THE ANGELS-. LeBron James reached the 40,000 points in his race on Saturday, but Nikola Jokic He had 35 points and 10 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 124-114.
James is still impressive, in his 21st NBA season, and extended a record that seems more unattainable every day.
“Being the first player to achieve something in this league is good. Simply knowing the history, with the greats that have been in this league and seeing that some of the greats were on the court tonight, makes it wonderful to compete,” James said. “But for me, the most important thing as always is winning, and I hate that this happened in a defeat.”
He eluded Michael Porter Jr. and made a layup with 10:39 left in the second quarter for the historic basket.
The audience stood up to applaud James during the next break. Coach Darvin Ham congratulated him with a pat on the chest. There was a video tribute, before and after which James raised the ball over his head.
On February 7, 2023, James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark of 38,387 points to become the leading scorer in league history in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He reached 39,000 points on November 21, during the In-Season tournament, against the Utah Jazz.
Aaron Gordon hit a three-pointer with 3:49 remaining to give Denver the lead, which closed the game with a 16-6 run for its sixth win.
Porter hit all five of his three-pointers to finish with 25 points, Jamal Murray had 24 points and 11 assists, while Gordon finished with 18 points.
James had 26 points and nine assists, but the Lakers failed to achieve what would have been their third straight win. Rui Hachimura added 23 points and Anthony Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
All five Lakers starters contributed at least 17 points.
Source: AP
