![]() |
Lebron James in Los Angeles Lakers match against Utah Jazz. |
LeBron James claimed another piece of NBA history on Tuesday, becoming the first player to break the 39,000-point barrier as the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Utah Jazz to reach the knockout stage of the league’s new in-season tournament.
The 38-year-old, needing just five points to reach the
milestone heading into the game, etched his name into the record books with a
three-pointer in the first quarter of a 131-99 Lakers win.
James, who passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last season to become
the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, saluted the crowd as his achievement was
announced.
“I haven’t really had an opportunity to wrap my head around
what it means,” James said of his latest scoring milestone.
“There’s been so many great players in this league since the
beginning of time, and so many great scorers.
“To be able to be the first of anything is always pretty
cool. A wild moment, for sure.”
James’ landmark set the mood for a celebratory occasion at
the Crypto.com Arena as the Lakers went on to score a wire-to-wire win and
reach the in-season tournament’s quarter-finals.
James finished with 17 points from 6-of-10 shooting, while
Anthony Davis led the Lakers scorers with 26 points, 16 rebounds and four
assists.
Elsewhere, Kevin Durant also passed a scoring milestone,
moving up to 11th place on the NBA’s career scoring list in Phoenix’s 120-107
drubbing of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Durant needed 14 points to overtake Elvin Hayes on the
scoring charts, and duly knocked them down in a free-scoring first quarter.
Durant finished with 31 points to lead the Phoenix scoring, taking his career
tally to 27,331 points.
Pacers Advance
The Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks 157-152 in a
rollicking shootout to also reach the knockout stages.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, who said this week the new
tournament gave “more juice” to early season games, scored 22 of his 37 points
in the third quarter as the Pacers erased a 20-point first-half deficit.
In the fourth quarter it was Buddy Hield who stepped up,
scoring 13 of his 24 points as the Pacers came out on top of a furious
back-and-forth finish.
“It’s good to clinch,” Haliburton — who also handed out 16
assists — said after the Pacers improved to 3-0 in tournament play and locked
up first place in East’s Group A.
“Buddy won us the game down the stretch, a lot of big
buckets.”
Hield’s three-pointer put Indiana up 152-150 with 1:20
remaining. After Saddiq Bey pulled Atlanta level with a layup, Hield drained
another three-pointer for a 155-152 Pacers lead with less than a minute to go.
Hield capped the outrageous scoring with an alley-oop dunk
with five-tenths of a second remaining.
Hield connected on nine of 11 from the field and made all
six of his three-point attempts.
Obi Toppin scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana and
Bennedict Mathurin added 19.
Trae Young scored 38 points to lead the Hawks, who led by 20
in the second quarter.
The quarter-finals will be played December 4-5, with winners
advancing to semi-final games on December 7 and a championship match on
December 9 in Las Vegas.
It was a tight finish in Philadelphia, where Darius Garland
scored 32 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 122-119 overtime victory
over the 76ers.
It kept alive the Cavs’ hopes of advancing in the tournament
via a wild card berth.
Jarrett Allen scored 26 points and pulled down 13 rebounds
while Max Strus made five three-pointers on the way to 20 points for the Cavs,
who came through despite again playing without injured Donovan Mitchell and
Caris LeVert.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid scored 32
points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Tyrese Maxey added 30 points for
Philadelphia, but the 76ers were eliminated from tournament contention.
AFP