Double-digit run ends

LeBron James has built a career on defying age, but, for all his accomplishments, his most enduring habit eventually met its end on an otherwise routine December night late last week.

- ANTHONY L. CUAYCONG

In Toronto, a city he utterly ruled in his prime, the streak that he had going for nearly 19 years finally snapped; in making just four of 17 tries from the field, he finished a bucket short of the double-digit mark he had hitherto hit in 1,297 straight regular-season games.

To be sure, the run has long since drifted into the realm of the surreal, a testament not just to James’ scoring talent but to his durability, routine, and reliability the league no longer sees for a variety of reasons. And yet, not without irony, the conclusion unfolded without ceremony, tucked inside an otherwise-meaningless game the Lakers managed to steal at the buzzer. If the moment stood out all the same, it was in the way the all-time great did not labor to play hero and, in the process, keep the streak alive. Instead, with the score tied and the Raptors bracing for his move, he made the pass to deliver the only success that mattered to him.