NBA ROUNDUP: LeBron James moves within 63 points of the all-time record as Lakers win by the thinnest of margins, while Luka Doncic leaves Mavericks win early with ankle injury, Giannis Antetokounmpo goes for 54 points in one-point win over Clippers

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.

‘I just understood my game was needed more on the interior tonight,’ James said. ‘Needed to get some rebounds, need to get some baskets in there and and I felt like we were attacking, especially in the fourth quarter.’

James looked content doing the dirty work even though the Lakers trailed the entire first three quarters, usually by double digits.

But with a friendly road crowd imploring James to lead the Lakers back, his 3-pointer with 2:35 left in the game gave Los Angeles its first lead of the game. Anthony Davis’ short jumper with 35.1 seconds left and subsequent block proved to be the decisive plays on a night he had 31 points and 14 rebounds, but was left out of the All-Star Game.

‘I think it’s one of the greatest records in sports, in general,’ he said. ‘It’s like the home run record in baseball. It’s one of those records that you don’t ever see or think will be broken.

‘You see guys like Hank Aaron, who had it for so long. You see guys like Sammy (Sosa) and Mark McGwire and you start climbing it and it’s like ‘Oh, this could really happen.’ It’s a fun thing as a sports person. It was fun watching those guys chasing it.’

But it was the Pacers who were chasing late.

On a night Aaron Nesmith scored a career-high 24 points, newly minted All-Star Tyrese Haliburton added 26 points and 12 assists in his first game in three weeks and Myles Turner had 20 points and 13 rebounds after signing a two-year contract extension, Buddy Hield missed a 17-footer as the clock ran out.

Indiana has lost four straight and this one befuddled longtime coach Rick Carlisle

Source: dailylifeworld.com