The Los Angeles Lakers have needed everything they can possibly get from LeBron James as he continues to keep the team afloat ahead of the NBA play-in tournament.
James shouldered the load in the Lakers’ 122-109 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday. He finished with a staggering 50 points while shooting 18-25 from the floor and 6-9 from beyond the arc.
“We just needed to pick our energy up and get more detailed about how we wanted to attack the Wizards. We did that, especially in the third quarter,” James said,. “I was able to hit a hot streak at one point. I just tried to stay in that zone as long as possible and hit a couple.”
What James is accomplishing at his age has become unparalleled in NBA history. He became the first player with multiple 50-point games over the age of 35. Additionally, James overtook Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo for the league scoring lead at 29.7 points per game.
LATEST NBA NEWS: LeBron James Will Not Let Lakers Drag Him Down With Them
One of the knocks some people have on James is that he isn’t the dominant scorer some of the other greats were, particularly Michael Jordan. James seems intent on dispelling that notion.
“When they talk about the best scorers of all time, they never mention my name. It pisses me off,” James said on a recent episode of “The Shop.”
James, who has one scoring title in his NBA career when he averaged 30.0 points per game back in 2007-08, seems intent on carrying this Los Angeles Lakers team while racking up the points needed to win his second scoring crown.
LATEST NBA NEWS: LeBron James Will Not Let Lakers Drag Him Down With Them
It’s a tight race for the NBA scoring title at the moment with Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo very close behind LeBron James. With injuries to some regular elite scorers or changes to others’ situations, this season is an ideal opportunity for him to finish with this title as he approaches Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.
