LeBron wins third straight Player of the Month

The NBA season isn't slowing down, and neither is Heat forward LeBron James.

The nine-time All-Star was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January, the team announced Friday.

James averaged 27 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists in January, while also shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 37.8 percent on 3-pointers.

It was a month of milestones for James, who on Jan. 16 became the youngest player to reach 20,000 career points and also had his 5,000th career assist in the same game, making him the second-fastest in NBA history to that mark.

James now has won the award for three consecutive months, a feat he previously accomplished across the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, when he won it six straight times between March 2009 and February 2010.

It is the eighth time James has won the award in a Miami uniform, a franchise record.