WASHINGTON, D.C. — When history came calling, no one was in the way.
LeBron James took a second-quarter swing pass from Stanley Johnson and saw an open path to the rim ahead. So the 37-year-old dove in, kissed it off the glass and trotted back on defense, leaving Karl Malone in his wake.
There is now a clear path for James to become the leading regular season scorer in NBA history, with no one in front of him except Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Unfortunately for James and the Lakers, it was more history-making in a loss. After leading by as much as 16 points over the Washington Wizards (30-40), the Lakers (30-41) seized up in the fourth quarter as Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 of his 27 points in a 127-119 effort. James scored 38 points on 29 shots, but as ever, defense cost his team the result they wanted.
The Wizards – playing without Bradley Beal or Kyle Kuzma – represented the Lakers’ best chance in more than two months to finally capture some momentum. They had lost six straight games, including a defeat to the Lakers a week before in Los Angeles. But they were walloped 34-20 in the decisive fourth, as the 7-foot-3 Porzingis made shots over their small lineup.
James left the court slapping the hands of fans, former teammates and anyone crossing his orbit as they congratulated him on the latest milestone. But clearly, the Lakers’ bottom line – they’ve lost 12 of their last 13 road games – wound up souring his mood.
“At some point I’ll be able to look back and look back at this moment, but right now the feeling I have, I can’t separate it,” he said. “We had a great opportunity to pick up some more momentum, especially after last night’s win. Played well enough to win this game for 36 minutes and last quarter we let it go.”
It was far from a sure thing that James would play at all. Lakers coach Frank Vogel said he was a game-time decision, and he didn’t warm up on the court to test out the sore left knee that has bothered him for the last two months. With a Monday date in Cleveland looming, there was popular speculation that James might skip the game in Washington after playing nearly 45 minutes in Toronto on Friday – and get to pass the mark against his hometown franchise.
But once he was in, James showed he meant business. He hit 8 of his first 12 shot attempts, screaming down the paint for dunks, or hurling up 3-pointers with defenders in his face. Taking off from the level that he played in the fourth quarter against Toronto, it was clear the No. 2 spot was squarely in his sights, and he would pass it even sooner than might otherwise be expected.
With 7:51 in the second quarter, James hit his third 3-pointer of the frame, pulling even with Malone. But the impending milestone seemed to tighten up the whole team: The Lakers went scoreless for two-and-a-half minutes across six possessions while the Wizards scored eight straight points.
Finally out of a timeout, the Lakers were able to get James in motion to the basket for an easy score. Moments later, a James foul gave enough of a pause for the Washington game ops to acknowledge James’ achievement on the jumbotron.
As the fans – many of them wearing purple and gold – showered him with applause, James raised his arm in acknowledgement, then got a celebratory handshake with former teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He hugged Carmelo Anthony (who is ninth on the scoring list himself), and told him he loved him.
“These are moments that we gotta cherish,” said Anthony. “We shouldn’t take these moments for granted. I won’t allow him to take these moments for granted, because we don’t get moments like this often.”
It turned out to be the high point of the night for the Lakers, who looked to be cruising to a win until hitting a snag late in the third quarter. The Wizards starting picking up steam in a stint with James on the bench, and when Tomas Satoransky hit s 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer, the Lakers’ lead was just 6 points.
It was erased altogether by Porzingis, who found multiple matchups against smaller players. The Lakers never put in Dwight Howard in an effort to keep up with the Wizards’ five-out spacing, but as Washington converted to bully ball, the Lakers simply had no counter. Den Avdija put the Wizards up for good with a 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining.
The Lakers wasted another strong game from Russell Westbrook, who scored 22 points on 10 for 15 shooting and added 10 rebounds and 8 assists. But while James and Westbrook seem to be finally clicking together, the team’s defense remains unsteady in critical moments.
“For this team to take that next step, fourth quarter D,” Vogel said. “That is what we got to, that is where you win games.”
James has joked before at the expense of the Utah Jazz – Malone is probably the franchise’s greatest player (the only reasonable challenger is his teammate John Stockton with whom he is inextricably linked) even though he scored the last of his points with the Lakers in 2004. But James also acknowledged he has respect for the Louisianan who made the pick-and-roll his sweet scoring science.
In reaching Malone’s total of 36,928 points, James was faster: He took 1,362 games to Malone’s 1,476. A good deal of that difference can be chalked up to James’ 3-point prowess with over 2,130 made threes, because Malone only made 85 in his entire career. However, Malone did get the benefit of 9,787 career free throws, a mark that James trails by nearly 2,000.
There are marks Malone set that James will never match: The Mailman played at least 80 games in 17 out of his 19 NBA seasons, including 10 seasons playing a full 82-game slate. But James has also shown remarkable durability in his career, and he said he respected the 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP’s commitment to staying healthy.
“The most important leadership for you is to try to be available as much as possible on the floor,” James said. “I think myself and him, we always just tried to be in uniform and make plays and stay in condition and try to stay healthy, stay injury-free as much as you can and also be productive on the floor.”