Thursday, August 9th, 2012 at 12:08 pm  |  198 responses

LeBron James Records First Triple-Double in Team USA History


by Eldon Khorshidi | @eldonadam

LeBron James has been on fire throughout the 2012 Olympics. Although not a point guard, King James has undoubtedly quarterbacked Team USA each and every game, and that was no different in last night’s 119-86 victory against Austrailia.

Well, it was a little different. James finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, marking the first triple-double in U.S. Olympic history. LeBron is simply a monster, and is now within two games of becoming just the second player ever to win the NBA championship, NBA MVP trophy and a gold medal in the same calendar year, something only Michael Jordan can relate to.

After Team USA’s game last night, head coach Mike Krzyzewski put it bluntly: “He’s the best basketball player in the world right now.”

Per SportsPageMagazine.com:

James finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for the first triple-double in U.S. Olympic history (since assists were kept as an official statistic in 1976), and his 12 assists tied the U.S. Olympic single-game high. Additionally, shooting 19-of-46 from 3-point, the USA tied its U.S. Olympic record of 46 3-point attempts, which it set on Aug. 2 against Nigeria.

While the final score was a 35-point blowout, Australia was down by just 14 points at the start of the fourth quarter. Three of Bryant’s four 3-pointers came off of assists from James.

“I’m proud of the win, that’s all that matters to me,” James said. “I don’t really care about me statistically. The win is more important; I’m happy to be able to move on.”

Team USA will face Argentina (4-2), which topped Brazil (4-2) 82-77 to advance, in the semifinals at 9 p.m. (4 p.m EDT) on Aug. 10. The USA previously beat Argentina 126-97 in its final preliminary round game on Aug. 6, as well as in exhibition play, 86-80, on July 22 in Barcelona, Spain.

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  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danpowers

    @slick rick: couldnt you have posted this a bit earlier? took me like 20 mins to put that together. but what does make him a better overall player then? because he doesnt play shooting guard. he plays the point. shouldnt a player be judged by the position he actually plays? or are you seriously of the oppinion that the bulls would have less success with williams or paul at the helm? i think the opposite would be the case

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    Yea phil, you’re list is hot garbage. Pete and john? Ha, you must be droppin acid with lakeshow. .
    And deron is still the best pg in the world.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Lake, you should know by now that was a joke on my part.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    If you’re going to judge him by the standards of his position….dont forget that neither williams nor Paul has had more success team wise than him. We’ll exclude Paul because hasn’t played for a legitimate team but williams has played with virtually the same cast and a Hall-of-fame coach but hasn’t LED his team to the same amount of success. Like I stated previously, only Paul numbers suggest He’s more effective than Rose but WILLIAMS DOES NOT so stop cherry picking with the pure point stat when his eff, per, etc… are less than Roses. Even in a injury plague season, Rose performed better than Williams in these “advanced statistics” you’re bringing up and he outplayed CP3 in a match-up but I’ll stop bringing that up because those are supposedly irrelevant and mean nothing that you out-perform your competition.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    @The Philosopher
    Long Live the Prince,
    Seriously you are quoting Mike Wilbon, who thinks Tiger is cool, TO cannot play football, The world is flat, The Washington basketball team nickname is still the Bullets, who thinks Mayweather is scared of little Manny, thinks Ricky Rubio will be a bust, thought Yao Ming would be a bust, thinks the Redskins is owned by Jerry Jones, calls the NBA All Star weekend Black Thanksgiving. He is off, Tony K. is that show. I would rather have Blackstone on their than Wilbon, He acts like he would always be tough on people, then when guests come in, he sucks up. Quote somebody that understands basketball and now obsessed with the Bulls and Bears and Cubs.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    My b Taylor. Internets gets the mind all twisted.
    Frozen Caveman, never done Acid. Don’t plan to. It’s much more easy to “over do it” with LSD than shrooms or weed or even DMT.
    Acid is scary as hell. Not solely because of what it does to the mind, but because of how easy and how much a couple kids could whip up over a weekend. Crazy sh*t right there.

  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danpowers

    @slick ric: when you do this you have to see the time and the whole picture. rose had more success in the weak east while paul and williams played against a tougher competition for most of the time. we all wont find out how far williams or paul wouldve gotten with quality squads in the east. leave out williams’ time with the jersey nets, that wasnt really a basketball team. look at both, paul and williams this season. they will be in a comparable situation as rose was 2010/2011 and then talk about success. plus, you really think the hornets that paul was leading or the jazz without stockalone wouldve made the playoffs just once by the way rose plays? i really dont think so.

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Again, my good brethren. When looking at that list, we have to anticipate what the masses may be discussing a decade from now. 15 years from now.
    We know that there are many players that were/are better than a few of those guys on that list.
    But when we partake in study, we have to think about everything.
    Accomplishments. From a historical perspective.
    As an example, I will use Havlicek. Looks like an ordinary player. Would probably get outplayed by a guy like, Shawn Marion, or somebody.
    But would you consider Marion the greater player, historically?
    No.
    Just is the same with a few players on that list.
    But because of the accolades, and the way they paved the way for a discussion like this, they have to be put in that elite class of true, bonafide all time players in NBA History.
    Such as is The King.

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    @The Seed:
    You don’t think Eldrick is cool?
    And you know most of those guys on those kinds of television programs play to the cameras a little bit.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    @The Philosophlying
    To act like Kobe, an GLOBAL ICON, Number 1 jersey seller worldwide, 5 time champ, the closes player ever to come to MJ accolades, where MJ stated he is comparable to him. To act like Kobe is just another player is straight assine. LOL

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Never said Kobe is just another player. lol
    He’s just a top 25 all time player, whereas The King is a top 15 all time player.
    Nothing more, nothing less.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    What are you talking about? You’re playing semantics and that has nothing to do with anything. I have never brought up anything about who would do what on one another’s team. Do people forget that Rose hasn’t always played for Thibs nor the currently constructed team but has never missed the playoffs? He’s already done the carrying his team to the playoffs thing in his sophomore season.

  • http://englishproofreading.org.uk Francis Raines

    Can James actually get any better? The man is a machine.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    He “carried” the team his sophomore season? “carried” them? That’s new. That bum Luol was just dead weight huh. You Rose enthusiasts are funny.

  • Lboogie

    Kobe is a basketball God. Other players would be talking in the locker rooms of how he hits shots like nobody is in his face. Gilbert Arenas was praising him on that aspect. What Kobe does is hard to do….Its all Skill and only real basketball players who played at a high level D1/NCAA/Overseas…not some weekend recreation league with your buddies…will understand.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    I know what I speak of nbk, you may say I’m being an ” enthusiasts” but Deng was on his way out the door in Roses sophomore season but the bulls couldn’t find any suitors because Deng was having his second mediocre season in a row. In Roses rookie season he was injured for most of the season but I digress, Rose definitely carried that team and Noah was the second most effective player on the team that season. Thibs pretty much Resurrected Dengs career with the Bulls. If Rose didnt carry his team 2009-2010 then neither did CP3 with that bum David West 2010-2011.

  • Lboogie

    Saying Lebron is a top 15 where Kobe is a top 25? Thats Ignorance.

  • Lboogie

    Stop taking DMT, Lebron hasnt done what kobe has done….consecutive 40+ games…81 points…14 3 pointers made…its just individual skill set that sets kobe apart. Kobe did it before all that handchecking BS the NBA has made the game soft. Olympics should put it all in perspective. Lebron uses strength and force. Kobe uses skill and finesse…two different games…just one is more accomplished. Until “the king of 1 ring” wins more…the discussion shouldnt be brought up in present day.

  • Lboogie

    gtfooo

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    Nevermind I’m not in the mood to argue with you about this. You clearly don’t know what your talkin about. And if you can’t see the difference between that Hornets team with David West as its second best player and those Bulls with Deng (or Noah if that’s your opinion) as the second best player then that’s fine. Obviously we aren’t arguing logically anymore so I’m straight on this regardless.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    **Excuse me, deng was having his third mediocre season in a row because the 07-08 Bulls team failed to make the playoffs and Deng didn’t live up to expectations after sweeping the Heat in the playoffs the previous season and performing well during that series and the playoffs in general.

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Lboogie;
    A member of our brethren who is of high spirit.
    Respect.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    Logic huh? How about West being a two time all-star compared to Deng and Noah’s one combined. Not to mention, Omeka Okafor was on that team, which is one of the best defensive centers in the league and not one to sneeze at. Like I stated previously, deng nor Noah was playing at the level they are playing at now, so get that notion out of your head. Vinny del negro was the coach and he didn’t utilize neither ones abilities correctly.

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Shout out @Ric and nbk…

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    “Kobe did it all before handchecking”, word? Handchecking was implemented before the 2000 season. Wowzers! Look at there, once again reality doesn’t matchup with certain fans’ perception of Kobe.

  • MUBWAR

    deron williams is 1 of two pgs to average 19 or more points and 10 or more assists for at least 3 seasons. the other is cp3. his last year in Utah, he dropped a cool 21p 4r 9.8a on 47%. Rose can’t smell this

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Okay, brethren…
    Chris Paul is the best point guard in the NBA.

  • Lboogie

    SO j taylor, youre telling me that when lakers had sacramento/portland series that they were physical. Im sure it beats what we are seeing today. Dude it was evident when Dwade took a ton of freethrows vs the Mavs. The game in the NBA is changing…Kobe did all his work on the court with insane games, The whole point of this game is to score and score the most points. To not credit Kobe is absurd. Until you know how it is to play at the NBA level theres nothing that any civilian can say

  • Lboogie

    The way Lebron plays doesnt match up to what Kobe did and how CLUTCH kobe was on the main stage at a young point in his career. This is why Jordan would average at least 80 ppg in this weak era. Wasnt it implemented in 94…taken out…then handcheckin came back in 2004-05?? wtf yo

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    @The Philosopher
    Your wrong about Kobe, its cool, you don’t know anything about basketball. Also Deron Williams is the best point guard in the NBA. Really who would take CP3 over Deron to start a team, NOBODY.Its funny cats try so hard like
    @JTalyer2 to discredit Kobe with his play, when the only comparable player of all time to Kobe is MJ. MJ stated this GUYS, are yall listening. The GREATEST player ever loves Kobe games, talks to him all the time and states he is comparable to him. To act like he is just a player that scores, shows yall lack of basketball skills and knowledge about the game. I have coached basketball and played. I know how hard it is to do what he does. If so everybody would play like Kobe, they can’t, DO YALL REALIZED HOW MANY PLAYERS HAVE BEEN COMPARED TO KOBE THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER. All of them are gone. Lebron is still compared to Kobe. See some of yall act so happy about a triple double, but the Australia team was still sticking around with Lebron’s triple double. Its nice, but that team had one NBA player and that was a backup. If Lebron does this against Spain, France, Agrentina, then I would say thats great. Lebron was playing against YMCA cats who play together all the time, have team chemistry, play hard, but their talent level sucks. Kobe been putting it work since he has had the opportunity to start on the Lakers. Kobe earned everything, Lebron was given everything. I take Kobe career. Also didn’t Kobe go the NBA Finals three straight years, during Lebron prime years, where he continually choked, then cried his way to the Heat, then Rose got hurt and KD choked. Man Bron has alot of work to do to be on Kobe’s accolades level.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    ??????????????????????????????????????????

  • Lboogie

    yup

  • Lboogie

    Lebron got the rebounds cause them weak aussies kept throwing it off the backboard on transition layup attempts LMAO. Thats not greatness! Greatness is banging in clutch shots to comfort the team. The team looks for someone to lead…Kobe Leads…although Lebron is in training…how else is the torch going to be passed.Team usa is the only chance that NBA stars can get together and teach/mentor…while being on same team. That matters the most..just like a young QB under a HOF QB…Aaron Rodgers/Brett Favre or Brees/Philip Rivers. Kobe also put away/deny championships for reggie millers career, iversons, hell even Keith van Horn! Lebron has given away championships…all to kobe :)

  • http://youtu.be/zrHG1pIo_Wo Lboogie

    Trade will be finalized tomorrow probably

  • http://youtu.be/zrHG1pIo_Wo Lboogie

    OOPS MY BAD DEAL COMPLETE HAHAHA

  • http://youtu.be/zrHG1pIo_Wo Lboogie

    DWIGHTS A LAKER!

  • http://gmail.com z

    Lol excellent discussion gents. Intelligence was impressive but i gotta say this: the philosopher should change his name lol bc he’s a disgrace to real philosophers. Its cool that theres a person with an appreciation for basketball and philosophy but philosophers think outside the box. From your comments (not just on this thread, either), i strongly get the impression that that’s not something you do, at least not yet. Also someone should explain to pposse that if youre a homer your opinion is worthless.

  • Beaver

    If Rondo played in the Olympics he be getting 20 dimes a game

  • http://www.reverbnation.com/tray24 T-Ray

    You gotta know Philo to know that a lot of the stuff he says on these threads are jokes but dude can talk real hoops.

  • peak507

    LBJ enough said!

  • http://www.nba.com/knicks danpowers

    @slick ric: my bad, didnt want to change your words. that exchanging teams arguement was mine. with that i didnt want to say that rose had nothing to do with the bulls success, he is obviously a big part of it. but you are right, going further in that discussion about weather dwill, cp3 are better than rose or weather rose is better doesnt make any sense coz everything has been said with no change in anyobodys oppinion. i am just a little suprised to see how little many bulls fans appreciate loul dengs play.

  • jei

    Lebron also part of 2004 Olympic Team..tHE FIRST also, for a professional and him for not winning the Gold!..LOL!..

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Thanks, jei, forgot about Lebron losing 0n 2004 team, but you all know who was missing right on that team. All the coaches in 2008 wanted him bad on the team, he came and played his best in the biggest game to help seal the deal, AKA The Black Mamba.

  • jei

    Yeah you’re right seed KOBE is tha man!.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    @danpowers….I respect Luol dengs play NOW but from 07-08 to 09-10, the fact remains that he just wasn’t as effective as he is now, We can check the archives of slam top 100 players from those periods and he’s probably barely making the list because he just wasn’t living up to expectations until Thibs got there.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    *Top 50, I’m sorry. So he probably isn’t even on a couple of those list in those selected seasons.

  • http://www.slamonline.com L.E.

    ‘Kobe earned everything’ never laughed that hard. I mean be real seed.
    I know Kobe accomplished a lot. Period.
    But he was on some very good teams with the right coach. I can’t say that about LeBron. So please stop posting nonsence.
    Do you really think, that your boy Kobe would have beaten the Spurs in the finals had he played with the Cavs.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Kobe did play with the Cavs. That was what he had with those LA teams including Smush and Kwame.
    And he lost in the first round two years in a row.
    He also lost to the same Detroit team, that LeBron eventually beat.

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