Lakers rally, Lebron closes in on record
Lebron James had 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and pulled within 63 points of becoming the NBA’S career scoring leader as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the Indiana Pacers 112-111 on Thursday night.
James has 38,325 points, with Kareem Abdul-jabbar holding the record at 38,387.
James gave Los Angeles its first lead on a 3-pointer with 2:35 left, and Anthony Davis’ 11-footer with 35.1 seconds left was the decisive basket. Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds.
Aaron Nesmith scored a career-high 24 points for Indiana, with Buddy Hield’s 17foot jumper clanking off the rim in the closing seconds.
Darius Garland scored 32 points shortly after being left off the All-star team and carried Cleveland following Donovan Mitchell’s ejection, leading the Cavaliers past slumping Memphis.
Garland was one of several players having All-starcaliber seasons not named an Eastern Conference reserve by the coaches. He added 11 assists.
Mitchell, voted an Allstar starter last week, was tossed in the third quarter for throwing the ball at Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks after the pair tangled under the basket. Brooks also was thrown out.
With the Cavs leading 8176, Brooks missed a shot and fell in the lane. While on the floor, he flung his arm back and struck Mitchell, who was standing over him, in the groin area. Mitchell dropped in pain and retaliated by firing the ball at Brooks and then charging and shoving him along the baseline in front of the Memphis bench.
Desmond Bane scored 25 points and All-star Ja Morant had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Grizzlies,’
RJ Barrett rebounded from a late-game benching with 30 points, Isaiah Hartenstein made big plays on both ends of the floor in the final minute and New York beat Miami.
New York pulled out the victory after Erik Spoelstra correctly challenged a call that turned a Heat foul into a Knicks turnover. But Tyler Herro’s potential winning 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.
Julius Randle added 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Knicks, who pulled within a game of Miami for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, the final guaranteed playoff spot.
Bam Adebayo had 32 points and nine rebounds for the Heat. Herro scored 25 points.
Ayo Dosunmu matched a season high with 22 points, Coby White scored 20 points and Chicago overcame shaky outings by Demar Derozan and Zach Lavine to beat Charlotte.
Dosunmu made 9 of 10 shots, and White hit three 3-pointers. Nikola Vucevic added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Andre Drummond had 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls used a big third quarter to turn a four-point halftime lead into an 85-70 advantage heading to the fourth.
Terry Rozier scored 23 points for Charlotte. Lamelo Ball, coming off a triple-double Tuesday night in a loss at Milwaukee, added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists before getting ejected with 1:21 remaining.
Luka Doncic scored 31 points before leaving with a right heel injury, and Dallas held on without their Allstar for a victory over New Orleans, handing the Pelicans a 10th consecutive loss.
Doncic stayed in the game after taking a hard fall in the third quarter when he was winding up for a one-handed dunk on a drive and Brandon Ingram knocked the ball out of his hand as Doncic was bumped by Jonas Valanciunas.
Ingram, who scored 26 points, missed a jumper that would have cut the deficit to two, and the Mavericks made enough free throws in the final seconds to keep the Pelicans from having a chance to tie.