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LeBron James was aware his monumental run of reaching double digits was at risk. At the decisive instant, though, it didn't concern him.

The right decision meant distributing the ball – and he executed. Consequently, the legendary streak was over.

LeBron's astounding run of over 1,200 straight NBA regular season games with 10+ points ended during a recent game, when basketball's greatest scorer finished with a mere eight points in the Lakers' close victory over the Toronto Raptors. He made the decisive pass, finding teammate Rui Hachimura to hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.

“Zero,” James replied after being questioned on the record concluding. “We won.”

A Selfless Choice Delivers Victory

He might have tried to secure the contest – and preserved his record – with the last shot, but he chose to dish the ball to Rui in the left corner. Hachimura sank it, with LeBron raised his arms triumphantly.

You have to play the game the right way. Make the correct play,” James explained. That has always been my philosophy. That is the way I learned to play. That's what I've done my whole career.”

He is very conscious of how many points he's scored during a game,” commented the team's head coach JJ Redick. “He did it just as he has throughout his career.”

The Streak's Closing Chapter

James re-entered the floor one last time with under five and a half minutes to go, the result along with the historic run on the line. He had six points on 3 for 15 from the field at that juncture.

He got a bucket at under two minutes remaining to tie the game and missed a 14-footer at one minute to go which could have pushed him to double digits.

He passed up a subsequent shot – but could have. Austin Reaves found him as time wound down, yet LeBron opted to dish it off instead.

“The basketball gods, if you approach it correctly, they tend to reward you,” Redick stated.

The History of an Unparalleled Streak

The record started over eighteen years ago. It stood as the longest double-digit streak in professional basketball: MJ previously held a streak of 866 straight games with 10+ points, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 787, and Karl Malone was fourth on the list with 575.

He is such a pass-first superstar,” said Lakers center a fellow Laker.

He simply plays the game of basketball. He could have shot but due to who he is on the court and just who he is as a person, he chose the unselfish play, dished to Hachimura and secured the victory.”

Getting to ten points had long been an afterthought early in the final period. Over the course of the record, he had reached the 10-point mark by the beginning of the final quarter 1,266 times before this game.

But two of those unusual games below ten points after three periods had happened just days before: He had nine going into the fourth against Dallas on 28 November, and then had six going into the fourth against Phoenix on Monday night.

He succeeded in preserve the record in the Phoenix game. The very next outing, it concluded – and he celebrated all the same.

“I always just make the best play. That’s automatic, win, lose or draw,” James said. When you make the unselfish play, the sports deities are always giving back to me.”