38 years old but not a wrinkle. LeBron James feasted for the Lakers, who beat Atlanta on Friday in the NBA. Antetokounmpo scored 43 points.
LeBron James celebrated his 38th birthday with a bang by scoring 47 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory at Atlanta (130-121), his highest total this season plus 10 rebounds and nine assists on Friday in the NBA.
In 20 years of career, the Californian star thus crossed for the 70th time – the 1st in 2022-23 – the bar of 40 points.
«I had warned my teammates before the game, so I had to get there“, he said afterwards. “But I started 1 of 5 on shots so I wasn’t sure of anything».
The quadruple NBA champion, who was playing his third game in four evenings, nevertheless ended up entering 18 out of 27 shots, including four winning shots out of six, as well as seven free throws out of nine.
This new feat allows him to become the 4th player in the history of the North American championship to register 45 points or more at the venerable age of 38, thus joining Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamal Crawford.
The Hawks, who, thanks to 29 points from Trae Young in particular, led by 15 points in the first two periods, then missed their chance. Before the start of the show James, author of 16 points in the 2nd and 4th quarters and 13 in the 3rd.
James, who missed a small assist to finish with a triple double, is more than ever in the race to double Abdul-Jabbar in February and become the leading scorer in NBA history.
Deprived of their other star Anthony Davis, injured in a foot, the Lakers, 13th in the West, thus improve a record (15 v., 21 d.) hitherto unflattering elsewhere.
43 points for Antetokounmpo
During the shock of the night, New Orleans, carried by 42 points from CJ McCollum (11 of 16 three-pointers, new personal best) and 36 from Zion Williamson, won (127-116) against Philadelphia its 5th straight win.
Despite Joel Embiid’s 37 points and James Harden’s fine overall performance (20 points, 10 assists), the 76ers (20 v., 14 d.) could not do anything. The Pelicans improve their ratio (23 v, 12 d), and retain the lead in the Western Conference with Denver, who dominated (124-119) Miami.
In the ranks of the Nuggets, the Serbian Nikola Jokic notably achieved a triple double (19 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists).
With Jordan Poole (41 points) and Klay Thompson (31 points), Golden State Warrior finished with a bang by passing a 16-2 in Portland to offer the defending champion a precious victory (118-112).
The Warriors, only 9th in the West (19 v., 18 d.), thus bring their series of victories to four in the absence of Stephen Curry.
Hungry, the Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo (43 points, 20 rebounds) left only crumbs in Minnesota during the victory of Milwaukee (123-114), the 4th in a row for the current 3rd in the Eastern Conference. The Timberwolves record their 5th loss in a row.
The card of the night is in the assets of Chicago against Detroit (132-118). During this duel between poorly ranked, the Bull Zach LaVine shone with 43 points (15 out of 20 shooting).
