LeBron James, who was chasing an all-time NBA regular season points record, scored 20 in the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, his side – the Los Angeles Lakers – trailed 76-66. The 38-year-old achieved the feat with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter.
OKC beat Los Angeles 133-130.
Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams dominated the first half with 19 and 15 points respectively. They received help from Mike Muscala (14). Almost whenever Oklahoma trotted in the Lakers’ half, they scored. On the other hand, Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis struggled with seven points. Russell Westbrook had 11.
Amid all the drama at Crypto.com Arena, several social media users questioned: Are Los Angeles Lakers getting LeBron James’ all-time record at the cost of a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder?
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“would be insanely funny for lebron to break Kareem’s record by scoring 40 in a big loss to Oklahoma City,” a Twitter user said.
“It would be pretty embarrassing for LeBron to break the all-time scoring record in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team neither Kareem nor Michael Jordon lost to in their careers,” another one added.
“It would be the most Lebron thing ever to break the all time scoring record by dropping 40 in a loss to Oklahoma City,” a third one tweeted.
LeBron ultimately surpassed Abdul-Jabbar for NBA’s all-time scoring record but could not guide his team to a win. He finished with 38 points and was the only impactful Lakers player on Tuesday. Anthony Davis managed just 13 points and Rui Hachimura had 14.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points and Jalen Williams had 25. With the loss, the Los Angeles Lakers are staring at a potential playoff miss for a second straight season.
