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View Winners → Sports Jan 16, 2023
Lakers forward LeBron James. | Photo courtesy of All-Pro Reels/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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LeBron James became the second player in NBA history to reach 38,000 career points, scoring a game-high equaling 35 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 113-112 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
James surpassed the 38,000-point mark with five minutes, 43 seconds left in the first quarter when he made a 20-foot jump shot, increasing his game total to 12 and career total to 38,001.
The Lakers trailed 33-32 at the end of the first quarter, led 58-57 at halftime and trailed 86-83 after three quarters in a game with 23 lead changes and 18 ties.
The Lakers took their last lead, 109-108, with 1:42 left on Dennis Schroder’s 8-foot floating shot. Philadelphia took the lead for good with 1:27 to play on Georges Niang’s 3-point basket. The 76ers increased their lead to 113-109 with 45.7 seconds remaining on Joel Embiid’s 13-foot jump shot.
The Lakers cut the deficit to 113-112 with 37.1 seconds left on Troy Brown Jr.’s 3-point basket off James’ assist in front of a crowd announced at 18,020, 977 short of a sellout.
Embiid missed a 15-foot fadeaway shot on the ensuing possession, but Russell Westbrook’s potential game-winning layup with 3.1 seconds to play was blocked by Niang and Embiid grabbed the rebound.
Embiid also scored 35 while James Harden added 24 as Philadelphia (27- 16) won for the seventh time in nine games.
Westbrook added 20 for the Lakers (19-24) who lost for the third consecutive game following a season-high five-game winning streak. They are 13th in the 15-team Western Conference, 1 1/2 games behind the Utah Jazz in the race for the conference’s final spot in the play-in tournament.
James increased his career total to 38,024 in 1,399 games over 20 seasons. He needs 364 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and become the NBA’s career scoring leader.
Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points in 1,560 games over 20 seasons.
James is seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 29.2 points per game. If he maintains his average and does not miss a game, he would set the record Feb. 9 in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena.
James made 15 of 23 shots, including one of five 3-point shots, and four of five free throws. The Lakers outscored the 76ers by 19 points in the 35:18 James was on the court, the game’s best plus-minus figure.
