Happy birthday, LeBron: Playing great much more often puts King James in league of his own

The Los Angeles Lakers will be here playing in a packed Target Center on Saturday night and, don't worry, LeBron James will not be skipping this one.

Not on his 39th birthday in the first half of his 21st NBA season, another landmark for the NBA's magnificent ironman.

The Lakers were in Minneapolis on Dec. 21, after they had played in Chicago the previous night, and LeBron did not play the back-to-back. The NBA already had thrown an extra game at James — the final of the first in-season tournament on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas (L.A. 123, Indiana 109) — and he had been playing heavy minutes.

He arrives here having missed three of the Lakers' 32 games, averaging 25.1 points, 7.4 assists, 34 minutes and shooting at high percentages: 53.9% overall and 41.3% on threes.

Chris Finch, the Timberwolves coach, was asked about LeBron and said: "He's a big, powerful man, always playing big minutes, and he managed for most of his career not to get hurt. LeBron plays. With what's going on in the league now, that's another example of his greatness."

Finch and the Wolves are fortunate the Lakers had him sit the back-to-back last week. They hit the careless mode late in the game against the LeBron-less Lakers and had to hold on for an 118-111 victory.

They topped that on Thursday night, apparently hitting the careless mode as soon as they heard Luka Doncic wasn't going to play for Dallas. Yet, try as they might, with 22 turnovers and no perimeter defense, these talented Wolves couldn't throw it away — a 118-110 win to keep them at the top of Western Conference at 23-7.

They should be advised to tighten it up with LeBron in the Lakers' lineup. The Lakers found what might be a solution for their post-in-season tournament:

Starting a no-guard lineup on Thursday vs. Charlotte, with LeBron as the primary ballhandler, and our old pal D-Lo, aka D'Angelo Russell, an alleged point guard, coming off the bench. They crushed the Hornets 133-112 and the stars rested in the fourth quarter.

As for "playing adds to his greatness," LeBron's game on Saturday will be No. 1,451 in the regular season: eighth all-time, but on his way to fifth after this season.

He's already the runaway leader with 282 playoff games — an extra 3 ½ seasons, including eight consecutive trips to the finals from 2011 to 2018, half with the Heat (two titles), half with the Cavaliers (one title).

The NBA's all-time scoring leader also won the title in the COVID-19 bubble for the Lakers in 2020. That was NBA Finals No. 10 for James.

This warrior of the court played until late June most every year and then spent the summer with three Olympic medal teams: bronze in 2004, gold in 2008 and 2012.

No sense arguing the Michael-LeBron thing, because the Michaels will never be convinced of LeBron as an equal, but James already has played 378 more regular-season games and 103 more playoff games than Jordan.

Playing great much more often has to count for something.

"LeBron is way more competitive than some people give him credit," Finch said. "Everyone talks about Jordan's competitiveness, which was always out front, but LeBron's right up there.

"What is remarkable is he's still playing this well at this point of his career. More than anything, he has done so much winning."

Finch was leaving six seasons as the coach of Sheffield Sharks in England to take over the Giessen 46ers in Germany when James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in nearby Akron.

It took Finch another eight years to reach the NBA as a Houston assistant and see "King James" from courtside.

"How many seasons for him now … 21?" Finch said. "You watch him, he always makes the right play. At one time, he received criticism for that. But he stayed true to himself — make the pass if it's the best play.

"He's evolved as a player. And he's accepted that, evolved his game to remain outstanding."

I offered this observation: "LeBron's done everything imaginable without being a great pure shooter."

To which Finch said: "Maybe, but in the biggest moments, he makes those shots."

Saturday night, the fans in Target Center have a rare privilege: They can break into a spontaneous singing of "Happy birthday, LeBron" at some point to honor one of the most amazing athletes of their lifetimes.