LOS ANGELES — Father Time is still undefeated, but it’s going the distance against LeBron James and may only get a split decision.
The Lakers star, the NBA’s oldest player at 38, is taking his averages of 25 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists into Monday night’s matchup against the Knicks, defying the laws of biology and enhancing his GOAT argument against Michael Jordan in his twilight.
It’s a remarkable achievement to Taj Gibson, who has faced James for nearly 15 years with earlier matchups as Eastern Conference rivals — with James on the Heat and Gibson on the Bulls.
“You think about the amount of minutes he’s played. Amount of tough series, rivalries all through [the] years,” said Gibson, who is the NBA’s fourth-eldest active player and about six months younger than James. “Different eras. Going from being really physical to cerebral. He stands out. He’s just amazing, man.”
James’ latest achievement was winning the NBA’s In-Season Tournament and being named MVP.
The Lakers are hanging the championship banner Monday, which feels like insult added to the Knicks’ disaster.
Tom Thibodeau’s squad was screwed by Adam Silver’s tourney.
As a result of the schedule quirks associated with it, the Knicks had to play extra regular-season games at Boston and at Milwaukee.
They’re already a combined 0-5 against those title contenders, with five more to play.
Thibodeau was understanding of both Josh Hart and the referees after the Knick became the team’s first ejection of the season on Saturday against the Clippers.
“Frustration,” Thibodeau said. “Like I always say, my thing with the officials, they’re going to miss some calls. It’s not easy. If it happens, you don’t want somebody to make a call on something he didn’t see it. If he didn’t see it I’d rather he — it’s unfortunate but that’s part of the game. You’ve just got to play on, move forward. That’s it.”
Hart was visibly peeved with the officials before his colorful language resulted in consecutive techs and an early trip to the locker room Saturday night.
Without Hart from the end of the second quarter, the Knicks were pounded by the Clippers and had no answer for Kawhi Leonard.
Former Knicks assistant and Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson is joining Team France as an assistant.
Evan Fournier, a star with Les Bleus, is excited.
Atkinson, an assistant coach with the Warriors, was strangely fired by the Nets just before the pandemic.
Brooklyn subsequently underachieved with Steve Nash at the helm.
“I’ve always liked him with the Nets,” Fournier told The Post. “I was a little surprised when he got fired, I thought he did a hell of a job with that team. They kind of went from being rebuilding to being a playoff team in one year. So we are very excited to have. We hope he fills the needs with his knowledge and stuff. Couldn’t be happier, to be honest.”
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