NBA: LeBron passes Malone tally but Lakers slump

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James moved into second place on the NBA's all-time regular season points scoring rankings on Saturday but could not prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from slumping to defeat against the Washington Wizards.

James produced a typically virtuoso performance to finish with 38 points and 10 rebounds at the Wizards' Capital One Arena.

That was enough to power James past Karl Malone into second place in the regular season scorers rankings.

But it did not stop the Lakers from sliding to a jarring 127-119 loss against a Wizards side which had been on a six-game losing streak.

James -– who holds the NBA's outright scoring record for regular season and playoff games -- started the game needing just 20 points to surpass Malone's regular season total of 36,928.

James wasted no time in hunting down Malone's benchmark, rapidly reaching double figures before moving to 16 points with back-to-back three-pointers early in the second quarter.

The four-time NBA champion then added another three-pointer to tie Malone, before finally taking sole possession of second place with a two-point layup with just over five minutes left in the second quarter.

The Washington crowd gave James an ovation after he reached the milestone, with the Lakers star saluting fans as he basked in the applause.

James' points haul leaves him with 36,947 career regular-season points, within range of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time record of 38,387 points.

But James' celebratory moment was diminished after the Lakers suffered another fourth quarter collapse to allow the Wizards to claim victory.

The Wizards outscored the Lakers 34-20 in the final period, completing a comeback from a 16-point deficit to grab the win.

Kristaps Porzingis led the Washington comeback with 16 points in the fourth quarter, part of an overall tally of 27 points.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Lakers pull away in second half to take 2-1 lead on Suns

Behind another strong defensive performance, the host Los Angeles Lakers smothered the Phoenix Suns for a 109-95 victory Thursday and 2-1 series lead in the opening round of the NBA playoffs.

Los Angeles had about 7,500 fans in attendance as Staples Center hosted a Lakers playoff game for the first time since 2013.

Anthony Davis led the way for the Lakers with 34 points and 11 rebounds. LeBron James chipped in 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Dennis Schroder added 20 points and four assists.

Deandre Ayton led the Suns with 22 points -- his third straight game with at least 20 points. Devin Booker added 19 points and Cameron Payne contributed 15 points.

The Lakers opened the second half on a 16-6 run, taking control of the game and the series. Los Angeles took a 13-point lead with just over six minutes left in the third quarter and held onto a 76-63 advantage at the end of the third.

Los Angeles extended that lead to 21 points with 7:24 left on a reverse lay-in by James that brought the crowd to its feet and seemingly put the game away.

The Suns kept things interesting, cutting L.A.'s advantage to eight points with 2:47 left on Jae Crowder's 3-pointer. But they got no closer.

Booker was ejected from the game for pushing Schroder to the ground on a drive to the basket with 35 seconds left. Crowder followed Booker to the locker room when he received a technical and was ejected for jawing with Schroder.

The Lakers bottled up Phoenix defensively, holding the Suns to 42.7 percent shooting. Los Angeles also held a 51-35 rebound advantage and 58-38 edge in paint points.

The Suns led, 28-27, after the first quarter, but the Lakers overtook them in the second and opened a 43-40 lead at halftime.

Davis paced the Lakers with 12 points and five rebounds in the first half.

Phoenix guard Chris Paul still seemed to be feeling the effects from a bruised right shoulder that limited him in the first two games of the series. Paul finished with seven points and six assists in 27 minutes.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope suffered a left leg injury in the third quarter and had to go to the locker room for further evaluation. The Lakers announced that Caldwell-Pope suffered a left quad contusion. He did not return.

According to ESPN, Caldwell-Pope will undergo an MRI on Friday.

-reuters

Lakers’ LeBron James is Time’s 2020 Athlete of the Year

LOS ANGELES –  LeBron James, who won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers and formed a coaltion to battle voter suppression, was Thursday named Time magazine’s 2020 Athlete of the Year.

The honor from Time comes days after James was named among Sport Illustrated’s Sportspersons of the Year — a list that also featured activist athletes after 2020 saw the Black Lives Matter movement sweep through sport along with the rest of US society.

Time lauded James’s More than a Vote, a non-profit organization aimed not at endorsing candidates but at encouraging Black citizens and others to exercise their right to vote.

Time noted that the group promoted the use of sports arenas as polling places — offering larger spaces that would allow for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic — and helped recruit more than 40,000 election workers nationwide.

“At every step, James supported the work by recruiting fellow athletes to the cause, promoting More Than a Vote to his more than 48 million followers on Twitter and turning himself into a billboard by wearing a Vote or Die! shirt to a practice,” Time wrote.

“It was the highest-profile example of the surge in activism that spread across the sports world in 2020.”

Recalling the famous reluctance of NBA icon Michael Jordan to speak out on politics and social issues, Time said that James had “established a new paradigm, in which commercial clout exists alongside political principle.

“He remains one of the world’s top pitchmen, endorsing Nike, AT&T, Walmart and other major brands. And he has laid waste to the dated notion that political and social engagement is some sort of distraction for athletes.”

The magazine noted that on the way to his fourth NBA title, James led the league in assists for the first time in his career, and his simultaneous success on and off the court shows that athletes “can now bring their full humanity to their games”.

“James has been incredibly successful both on the court and in the business world in 2020, but the biggest reason he has received as much recognition as he has is that he’s used those successes to look out for people who once struggled in life as he did,” Time said.

Agence France-Presse