LeBron breaks NBA minutes record on the night he reaches 10,000 points for Lakers

Oklahoma City closed the wounds from its NBA Cup final loss with a win over Orlando, while Boston was stunned by Chicago.

El alero de Los Ángeles Lakers LeBron James (23) hace un gesto con el pulgar hacia el banquillo del equipo durante un intento de tiro libre contra los Sacramento Kings en el último cuarto en el Golden 1 Center. — LeBron gives a thumbs up during the game in which he broke the NBA minutes record.Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images/Sipa USA / Cordon Press

Published by

Israel Duro

20 de diciembre, 2024

LeBron James continues to break NBA records. The Lakers' legendary player managed to set a new high for total minutes played in the regular season in his team's 113-100 win over the Sacramento Kings. With the 34 played on Thursday, James has played 57,431 minutes, surpassing the 57,446 of another Lakers legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

LeBron again proved he's not just cruising the courts to keep racking up minutes and records. His 19 points and his leadership were key for the Lakers to add another victory in what has been a rather irregular season. With his points, moreover, James surpassed the 10,000-point mark in his seven seasons in purple and gold.

Gilgeous-Alexander puts a smile back on Thunder's face

The night also brought a restorative victory for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who put their loss to the Bucks in the NBA Cup final behind them, led by an unleashed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. With 35 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, the Canadian took all the spotlight in the duel that helped put the leader of the Western Conference back on track.

With this victory, the Thunder move to 21-5, opening up a 3.5-game lead over the Memphis Grizzlies in second place in the West.

New defeat for the reigning champions

The Chicago Bulls stunned the Boston Celtics (117-108), handing them their sixth loss of the regular season (21-6). With this result, the reigning NBA champions no longer hold the second-best record in the league between the two conferences, ceding their place to Oklahoma City (21-5).

This was quite the opposite to the Wizards, who achieved their fourth win of the season by defeating the Charlotte Hornets 123-114. Jordan Poole scored 27 points, including 5 3-pointers.

Wembanyama's exhibition

Frenchman Victor Wembanyama delivered a 42-point (7-15 3-pointers) performance in San Antonio's overtime win over Atlanta. It is the second-highest scoring output of his career. The Frenchman delivered in overtime, after De'Andre Hunter provoked him by scoring the basket that sent the game into overtime.

The forward (27 points, top scorer for Atlanta) celebrated his dunk in Wembanyama's face, an action that awakened the beast in the final and definitive five minutes. In overtime, Wembanyama scored 8 of the Spurs' 13 points in overtime with two 3-pointers and a running dunk. He also added a block.

Jazz beat the Pistons

Meanwhile, Collin Sexton (30), Keyonte George (28) and Lauri Markkanen (25) scored at least 25 points in the Utah Jazz's 126-119 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Utah came into the game having lost 12 of its last 14 games, though in this game they dominated the rebounding battle (66-43) and had a lead as large as 29 points.

Cade Cunningham's 33 points were a plus for the Pistons. It was the eighth home loss for Detroit.