LeBron Named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for Sixth-Straight February

LeBron James was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for February 2017.

It marks the sixth-staight season in which he has been February’s player of the month in the East.

While his teams tend to hit a bit of a rough patch every January, he seems to step on the gas pedal this time of year and never look back.

Here’s the press release, announcing the news:

CLEVELAND – The NBA announced today that Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been named the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in February 2017. This marks the 22^nd time a Cavs player has earned Player of the Month honors and James’ 34^th, the most in NBA history. He also won the award in October/November of this season.

This past February, the Cavaliers had the best record in the NBA at 9-2 (.818). James appeared in 10 games (9-1) last month and averaged 25.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 10.6 assists in 37.5 minutes. He also recorded seven double-doubles (one triple-double) and shot .637 (100-157) from the field and .571 (21-37) from the three-point line. James’ field goal percentage and three-point percentage were his best in any month this season. In addition, his 10.6 assists per game average was the highest of any single month in his NBA career. Among Eastern Conference leaders last month, James ranked second in field goal percentage (.637), second in plus/minus (+95), second in field goals made (100), second in assists per game (10.6), third in points per game (25.9), fourth in three-point percentage (.568), tied for fourth in double-doubles (7), 17^th in rebounds per game (7.2) and tied for 18^th in three-pointers made (21).

The 13-time NBA All-Star was the only player in the NBA to average more than 20.0 points while shooting at least .600 from the field and .500 from three-point range last month. James shot over .560 from the field in nine of his 10 appearances, including eight games with .600 or better and three games with at least a .700 mark. He tallied at least 20 points on eight occasions and poured in 30 points or more in three games. The 6-8 forward also dished out 10 or more assists six times, which includes a career-high 17 assists on February 6 at Washington.

James, who was also the only player in the East to average at least 25.0 points and 10.0 assists in February, reached several historical achievements and milestones throughout the month. With his 12th point at New York on February 4, James became the eighth player in league history to reach the 28,000-point mark, as well as the youngest to do so (32 years, 36 days). In a 140-135 overtime win at Washington on February 6, he moved past Lenny Wilkens (7,211) for 13^th place on the NBA’s all-time assists list, while also passing Magic Johnson (1,724) for 20^th place in career steals. In Cleveland’s 132-117 road win over Indiana on February 8, James tallied his 800th career block. With those two wins, the Cavs became the first team in NBA history to win back-to-back road games against opponents that had a winning streak of seven games or longer (Washington and Indiana each had seven straight wins). James also moved past Brad Daugherty (5,227) for second place in franchise history in defensive rebounds on February 11 against Denver.

Cleveland averaged 117.4 points per game in February, which was their highest scoring month in franchise history, surpassing their previous mark of 117.2 points set in October 1979 (Elias Sports Bureau). The Cavs are currently an Eastern Conference-best 41-18 on the season. In 55 games (all starts) in 2016-17, James is averaging 25.7 points (ninth in NBA) on .540 shooting from the field (11^th in NBA), 7.9 rebounds, a career-high 8.9 assists (fourth in NBA) and 1.36 steals in 37.6 minutes. He also has 29 double-doubles (13^th in NBA) and seven triple-doubles (third in NBA).

Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook won Player of the Month accolades for the Western Conference.