LeBron James reaches No. 2 on NBA’s career scoring list, but Lakers lose to Wizards

A free throw in Boston. A jumper in Detroit. A Kobe Bryant-inspired dunk in Los Angeles. A banked-in three-pointer in Toronto.

Over 19 seasons, these particular person moments have been alternatives to have fun LeBron James and his largely unmatched basketball abilities.

They had been simply slices of the story — scoring was by no means the entire solution to decide him anyway. However over time, these factors added up — the alley-oop in Portland, the up-and-under in San Antonio, the step-back in Charlotte and the layup in Chicago.

Saturday in Washington, it was a thundering dunk, a driving layup, a handful of threes and, lastly, a chopping layup that pushed James up the NBA’s all-time scoring leaderboard to No. 2, trailing solely Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The historic basket got here halfway into the second quarter of the Lakers’ 127-119 loss. Stanley Johnson discovered James on a back-door minimize into the paint for a right-handed layup for his 36,930th profession level, shifting him previous Karl Malone for second on the NBA’s profession scoring checklist.

“Simply to be a part of this league the various years I’ve been part of it and being linked to among the biggest who’ve ever performed this recreation and guys I’ve ever watched or studied or examine or aspired to be like … I’m simply all the time misplaced for phrases for it,” James stated.
“It’s an honor for myself, for my hometown and for my household and my associates to have the ability to stay these moments all through this journey. And that’s precisely who I do it for. I do it for my household, my associates, my hometown and anyone who’s been part of this journey all through this run up to now.”

On the subsequent useless ball after the go-ahead basket, the Washington Wizards acknowledged the accomplishment on the scoreboard. As the group rose to its ft for an ovation, James lastly acknowledged the second, one hand within the air as his former teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope congratulated him.

Caldwell-Pope was additionally on the courtroom in 2019 when James handed Michael Jordan for No. 4 in Los Angeles and in 2020 when he handed Bryant for third in Philadelphia.

James reached second in scoring in his 1,363rd recreation. Malone, who scored his last factors as a member of the Lakers, had 36,928 factors in 1,476 video games.

Like so a lot of James’ milestones this season, it got here with out the Lakers getting a win. He scored 38 and Russell Westbrook added 22, however the Lakers’ protection failed them late.

“It is a second in time the place we will’t get caught up within the ache of this loss and acknowledge what an unbelievable feat that is for LeBron. And to do it within the trend that he did it. He simply attacked the sport tonight,” coach Frank Vogel stated. “He got here in and was aggressive on either side of the ball, second night time of a again to again, actually enjoying with unbelievable vitality after enjoying 45 minutes final night time. And only a signature efficiency in a recreation the place he passes one of many greats … It’s actually spectacular and I’m tremendous blissful for him.

“It’s superior.”

He now trails Abdul-Jabbar by 1,440 factors to equal the document of 38,387.

Saturday, James was a game-time determination to play, suiting up on the second night time of a back-to-back as soon as his lingering knee swelling wasn’t an issue.

“After I received to the world and received achieved with my activation, received achieved with my remedy I felt ok to go,” James stated. “So the query of not enjoying went out the door proper then and there.”

He began the night time with a putback. Added factors on a slick driving reverse and thundering one-handed dunk. He received sizzling from deep and hit back-to-back triples, forcing the Wizards right into a timeout.

And whereas James was sizzling, the Lakers offense, in whole, continued to hum after a powerful time beyond regulation win in Toronto. It’s why Vogel thinks his workforce has a greater shot than most may imagine.

After profitable on the highway for the primary time since Jan. 25 on Friday, a win Saturday would have given the Lakers their first profitable streak since they received 4 straight on Jan. 7.

Since then, the Lakers are 9-22.

“I don’t just like the document in any respect,” Vogel stated pregame. “That’s not a enjoyable factor to be part of, dropping this a lot. However, I believe the surface notion of our route and what we’ve, and what our chances are high this 12 months are completely different than what we really feel inside. I do imagine that. I do imagine.

“We really feel like we’re at the very least going to have a possibility within the play-in to play one recreation or two video games … At the moment, hopefully we might be enjoying our greatest basketball and getting Anthony Davis again. And we really feel like we will win these two video games and put ourselves in place to be in a seven-game collection. Once more, if we proceed to develop and play our greatest basketball down the stretch, we’ve perception in what we will do that 12 months.”

The Wizards’ Kristaps Porzingis (6), Tomas Satoransky (31) and Deni Avdija, proper, have fun throughout a second-half timeout. Porzingis completed with 27 factors.

(Luis M. Alvarez / Related Press)

The Lakers led by 16 on Saturday, withstanding each push from the Wizards, who had been with out Kyle Kuzma. However Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 factors within the fourth quarter, together with a game-sealing three-pointer, resulting in a helpless shrug from James and the Lakers’ immediately ineffective small lineups.

There are positives to remove from the loss, however the sting of the sport actually dampened James’ postgame temper. Nevertheless it shouldn’t be that means, not Saturday night time at the very least, Lakers ahead Carmelo Anthony stated.

“We simply must have fun the accomplishments, man,” he stated. “There’s a lot else we’re coping with in sports activities. It’s all about competing, wins and losses. However on the finish of the day, when you could have a milestone like that, you need to have fun.”