LEBRON James cemented his NBA legacy as he eclipsed another Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the league’s career scoring leader in the regular season.
The 38-year-old James clinched the feat with a fadeaway basket over the defense of Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kenrich Williams at the 10.9 seconds mark of the third quarter.
James, who is on his 20th year in the NBA, scored eight points in the first quarter, 12 in the second, 16 in the third and two in the fourth for 38 points and 38,390 career NBA points so far.
Abdul-Jabbar held the no.1 spot for 39 years after passing Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 31,419 on April 5, 1984 in a Lakers game at Utah. He ended up with a career 38,387 points.
The Thunder, however, spoiled James and the Lakers’ historic evening with a huge fourth quarter to get away with a 133-130 victory at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
With the score tied at 106-all, Isaiah Joe drilled two three-pointers, rookie Jalen Williams had back-to-back layups and Josh Giddey scored on another layup as the Thunder pulled to an 118-106 lead.
The Lakers cut it to 112-120 with back-to-back hits from Rui Hachimura and Dennis Schröder but the Thunder pulled away anew with shots from Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams for a 129-116 edge.
The Lakers made its last push with consecutive free throws from Russell Westbrook and a three-pointer from Patrick Beverley but only managed to cut it to three points.
Gilgeous-Alexander top-scored for the 26-28 Thunder with 30 points, Williams added 25 markers, while Giddey and Michael Muscala contributed 20 and 16 markers, respectively.
On the part of the 25-30 Lakers, Westbrook backed up James with 27 points and eight assists, while Hachimura, Anthony Davis and Schröder had 14, 13 and 10 markers, respectively./PN
