LeBron James continues to make history.
Saturday night in Los Angeles, James scored his 40,000th career point on a pretty left-handed layup with 10:40 remaining in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets. James finished the game with 26 points, nine assists, and four rebounds on 12-of-20 from the field in 37 minutes in the 10-point loss.
James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer on February 7, 2023, scoring his 38,388th career point in a 133-130 home defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
On Saturday, the Lakers hung tough with the Nuggets down the stretch. They took a 101-99 lead when James hit a pull-up three with 7:35 to go in the game, and a 110-108 lead on a driving layup from James with 4:08 on the clock.
Aaron Gordon, though, responded with a corner three-pointer on the next Nugget possession, and Jamal Murray hit a difficult, fading jumper over Rui Hachimura with the shot clock winding down to put Denver up 115-110 with 2:27 remaining. Both plays were part of a 9-0 Nugget run.
Murray iced the game with 1:34 remaining with a baseline layup, banking the ball off the right side of the glass with his left hand. He finished with 24 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds on 11-of-23 shooting. Jokic led the Nuggets with 35 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, while Michael Porter Jr., scoring 25 points and adding 10 rebounds, was a perfect 10-of-10 from the field (including making five-out-of-five from beyond the arc). Gordon finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, while Justin Holiday contributed 13 points off the bench.
Hachimura scored 23 for the Lakers, while Austin Reaves scored 19 (along with 14 assists). Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell scored 17 apiece.
The Nuggets shot 58.7 percent to the Lakers' 52.8, while out-rebounding the home team by a big margin of 16, 47-31.
The Nuggets improved to 42-19 (third in the Western Conference, 0.5 games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the top seed) with the win, while the Lakers dropped to 33-29. The Lakers are now 10th in the conference, as they are separated by a half game from the ninth-seeded Warriors and two and a half games behind the Sacramento Kings, who are currently the seventh seed.
The Nuggets will host the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at 10 p.m., while next up for the Lakers is a home contest with the Thunder on Monday night at 10:30 p.m.
Comments