LeBron James, one of the legends of the NBA (Kevin Cox / Getty)
team achieved Los Angeles LakersAt dawn on Saturday, an important victory over the Atlanta Hawks in a match American Basketball Leaguewhich witnessed a more than wonderful appearance of the legend LeBron JamesTo end the year in the best way possible, and to confirm his superiority on the field.
The Lakers outperformed the Hawks (130-121), and James contributed to the victory by scoring 47 points with 10 rebounds and 9 assists. American basket.
With this balance of points, James became the fourth player in the history of the league to score 45 points or more at the age of 38 years, joining legends Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamal Crawford, to shine on his birthday (December 30), noting that the confrontation Atlanta in 2009 was the only one James scored more points on his birthday (48 points).
47 PTS
10 REB
9 AST
Lakers WLeBron showed out on his 38th birthday. pic.twitter.com/33lO5BnVpo
— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2022
In a second match, the duo, CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson, led the Western Region leaders, the New Orleans Pelicans, to their fifth successive victory, at the expense of their guest, the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers (127-116), and McCollum scored 11 of his record 16 hat-tricks from 16 attempts, ending the match with a score. 42 points, at a time when Williamson scored 13 out of 19 attempts (36 points).
42 PTS
4 REB
5 AST
11 3PM (franchise-record, career-high)CJ McCollum went OFF in the Pelicans win. pic.twitter.com/s09E7DdoQr
— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2022
On the other hand, 37 points were not enough for the Philadelphia giants, Joel Embiid, at a time when his colleague scored James Harden 20 points and 10 assists. The Pelicans raised their score to 23 wins compared to 12 losses, equal in the Western lead with the Denver Nuggets, the winner of the Miami Heat (124-119).
The Golden State Warriors, the defending champions, scored their fourth straight victory at home to the Portland Trail Blazers (118-112), thanks to 41 points from Jordan Paul and 31 from veteran Klay Thompson. And he occupies Golden State, whose star distributor is absent Stephen Curry Due to his injury, he is ninth in the Western Conference (19 wins and 18 losses), behind Portland, for which Damian Lillard scored 34 points.