MIAMI, FL – The NBA announced today that Miami HEAT forward LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month, presented by Kia Motors for games played in October/November 2012. This marks the 16th time a HEAT player has earned Player of the Month honors in franchise history, James’ sixth as a member of the HEAT.
James, a two-time Eastern Conference Player of the Week honoree this season, averaged 25.0 points, 8.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.07 steals in October/November while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from three-point range. He posted nine double-doubles while leading the team in scoring eight times, in assists 10 times, in minutes on nine occasions, in rebounds eight times and in steals and blocks twice each. He scored at least 20 points in each of the 14 games, a new career-best, surpassing his previous high of seven 20-point games to start a season, including three 30-point games while grabbing double-figure rebounds seven times and dishing out double-figure assists twice. Additionally, he totaled 91 assists over that span, averaging a career-best 2.60 assist-to-turnover ratio.
James helped lead Miami to an Eastern Conference-best 11-3 (.786) record, including a perfect 7-0 at home. In addition to becoming the first Eastern Conference team to win 11 games, Miami’s 11-3 mark tied the HEAT’s best start through 14 games in franchise history with the 1995-96 and 1999-00 seasons. He grabbed his 5,000th career rebound on November 9 at Atlanta and scored his 4,000th point since joining the HEAT on November 15 at Denver while also dishing out his 1,000th assist with Miami in the same game. He is now just the eighth player in HEAT history to eclipse both the 4,000-point and 1,000-assist plateaus. He capped off the month leading the HEAT in points (350), rebounds (124), assists (91), field goals made (138) and minutes (522).
Among league leaders this season, James currently ranks fourth in scoring (24.8), tied for 11th in minutes (37.6), tied for 12th in assists (6.8), 14th in field goal percentage (.530), 15th in rebounds (9.1), tied for 17th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.70) and tied for 26th in three-point field goal percentage.