[Epoch Times, March 21, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Tang Yiren comprehensive report) On March 19, the NBA regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers played back-to-back away games against the Washington Wizards. With a 16-point lead at one point, the Lakers’ offense stagnated in the fourth quarter and eventually lost to the Wizards 119:127.
After the start of the game, the Lakers dominated the game and quickly took a 10:3 lead. With 5 minutes and 25 seconds left in the first quarter, the Lakers led by 10 points at 23:13. Since then, Anthony scored 5 consecutive points off the bench. He led his team to a 9:0 spurt, and the Lakers led 32:16. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led by 10 points at 36:26. Shortly after the start of the second quarter, LeBron made three three-pointers in a row, and the Lakers led 49:35. After that, the Wizards chased to 44:49. Next, the Lakers kept the lead firmly and ended the first half with 67:58.
In the second half, Stanley Johnson made a dunk, but the Wizards quickly narrowed the difference to single digits. After that, the two teams fell into a new round of tug-of-war, and the Lakers ended the third quarter with a 99:93 lead by 6 points. In the fourth quarter of the decisive victory, the Wizards chased the score wildly. After 4 and a half minutes, the Wizards overtook the score 107:106. With 1 minute and 35 seconds left in the game, the Wizards led 119:116. James and Westbrook missed the equalizer. Avdia hit a three-pointer on the right wing, and the Wizards had a 6-point lead with 1 minute left in the game. At the last moment, James missed a three-pointer, Pope got a rebound and was fouled and made two free throws. The Wizards won 127:119.
On the Lakers side, James scored 38 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, and surpassed Karl Malone on the night to rise to the second place in the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Westbrook also played well. He scored 22 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, making a quasi triple-double; Austin Reeves 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Stanley Johnson 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Malik Monk 17 Points 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Carmelo Anthony 13 points and 4 rebounds.
In this campaign, Pojin played very mediocre in the first three quarters, but he suddenly broke out to take over the attack at the end, scoring 15 points in a single quarter and leading the team to victory. In the whole game, Pojin scored 27 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. In addition to Pozin, Pop had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, Gafford had 17 points and 6 rebounds, Corey Kispert had 13 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Avdia had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and Satoran Sky had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, and Hachimura had 10 points and 2 steals.
LeBron James’ regular-season scoring
In the last game away from the Raptors, James spent 44 minutes, scoring 36 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. Back-to-back to Washington, there are concerns that he chooses to rest. However, the current situation of the Lakers does not allow James to rest. In addition, in this game, James has a special reason for insisting on fighting.
Before this game, James scored 36,909 points in the regular season, ranking third, only 19 points away from Malone who came in second. In the past 8 games, James averaged 35.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, while shooting 53.8% from the field and 40.3% from three-point range, with two games scoring more than 50+ points. Therefore, passing this great milestone has become the biggest driving force for Emperor Zhan’s campaign.
James maintained a good touch at the beginning of the game, scoring 6 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter, James continued to take the lead. With 7 minutes and 40 seconds left in the second quarter of the game, James scored 19 points with a 3-pointer from a 45-degree angle on the left, tying Carl- Malone’s 36,928 points. With 5 minutes and 23 seconds left in the second quarter, James made an empty cut to the basket for a layup, so that he successfully surpassed Karl Malone, and his career total score rose to second in the NBA’s all-time scoring list!
According to statistics, James has played a total of 1,363 games in his career so far, while Malone has played a total of 1,476 games in his career. That means it took James 113 fewer games than Malone to reach the same total score. Abdul-Jabbar, who ranks first on the all-time scoring list, played 1,560 games and scored 38,387 points.
Of course, the milestone will come sooner or later, scoring 30+ in a single game, and James has long been commonplace. In contrast, the Lakers are now more eager to win. But the Wizards didn’t want James to enjoy the victory. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, they set off a rapid wave of chasing points and finally won the game. Although James scored 38 points and 10 rebounds, he failed to win, and his milestone night was a bit more bitter again.
Responsible editor: Li Rongshi
