At Crypto.com Arena, the Los Angeles Lakers easily defeated the San Antonio Spurs 119-101 on Wednesday night to snap their three-game losing streak. The night belonged to LeBron James, who reached yet another milestone, but Anthony Davis led the charge with a solid double-double.
In the Lakers’ victory, LeBron recorded his sixth triple-double of the year with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Although J.J. Redick and company were greatly relieved by the win, James, who moved up to the second position on the all-time career victories list after surpassing Tim Duncan, found it especially memorable.
James has now surpassed Duncan’s 1,158 career victories with the victory. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has 1,228 victories, is the only player who is ahead of him on this list.
The 39-year-old would need 70 more victories to secure yet another No. 1 slot in the NBA record books after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record of 38,387 points the previous season.
The Lakers defeat the Spurs thanks to James’ triple-double
LeBron James registered his sixth triple-double of the season to help the Los Angeles Lakers to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 119-101.
James scored 16 points and added 11 assists with 10 rebounds as the Lakers ended a run of three defeats in a row.
Seven players from the visiting Lakers racked up double figures, including Dalton Knecht with 20 points and Anthony Davis with 19.
French sensation Victor Wembanyama top scored for the Spurs with 20 points but could not stop his side’s four-game winning streak coming to an end.
Elsewhere, Eastern Conference leaders the Cleveland Cavaliers suffered their first home defeat of the season and only their second loss of the campaign as they were beaten 135-124 by the Atlanta Hawks.
Trae Young recorded 20 points and a career-high 22 assists for the Hawks, while team-mate De’Andre Hunter scored 26 points.
“They are a really good team who have been playing well all year and I feel we have been a little inconsistent but the times that we have played well, we’ve played really well,” said Young.
James Harden scored 43 points for the Los Angeles Clippers in their 121-96 win at the Washington Wizards.
It was Harden’s highest points tally since March 2021 and came against a Wizards side who have lost 13 games in a row.
The Golden State Warriors were without the injured Stephen Curry and went down to a 105-101 home defeat against Western Conference leaders the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points for the Thunder, while the Warriors suffered a third defeat in a row.
In Salt Lake City, Nikola Jokic contributed 30 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to help the Denver Nuggets to a 122-103 victory against the Utah Jazz.