Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a basketball legend. However, one of his highest marks is now broken: the most points in the main round and playoffs. But LeBron James could still aim for another record.
LeBron James is now the highest scoring pitcher in NBA history, having scored more points in the main round and playoffs than any basketball pro before him. In the narrow 115:117 defeat of his Los Angeles Lakers against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening (local time), James overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had scored 44,149 points in his career. James now stands at 44,157.
In the more prestigious category, points in the main round, Abdul-Jabbar, active from 1969 to 1989, still leads by 1861 points. “That’s pretty cool. It’s incredible,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel before the game about his protégé LeBron James. “Everything he’s done during his career is just amazing. That’s why I think he’s the greatest that has ever played.”
The best pitcher in San Francisco was Klay Thompson, who scored 33 points and thus had more points than almost three years ago. Thompson had completely missed the past two seasons with the Warriors with injuries. Now he made sure that the Warriors did not let the gap to leaders Phoenix Suns get any bigger. The Western Conference number one won 132-105 against the Orlando Magic for his 46th win of the season. Franz Wagner scored twelve points for the Magic.
Despite a significantly improved performance, the defeat was particularly annoying for the Lakers because city rivals Los Angeles Clippers won the away game at the Dallas Mavericks and thus landed an important victory in the fight for the playoff spots. At 99:97 in Dallas, Luka Doncic, who once again played outstandingly, was unable to stop the Clippers. The Slovenian had 45 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, but was unable to prevent his 24th loss of the season against his Western Conference rivals.
