(Basketball news)  The Los Angeles Lakers won back to back games as they beat the Indiana Pacers 112-111. For the Lakers, James finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as he is now 63 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s career record, 38,387 points while Anthony Davis  had 31 points and 14 rebounds, but was subsequently left out of the All-Star Game. Russell Westbrook recorded his 181st career triple-double to tie Oscar Robertson’s career mark. For the Pacers, Aaron Nesmith scored a career-high 24 points as newly picked All-Star Tyrese Haliburton added 26 points and 12 assists in his first game in three weeks and Myles Turner had 20 points and 13 rebounds after signing a two-year contract extension.

”I just understood my game needed more on the interior tonight,” James said. ”Needed to get some rebounds, need to get some baskets in there and and I felt like we were attacking, especially in the fourth quarter.”

”I think it’s one of the greatest records in sports, in general,” Lebron  said. ”It’s like the home run record in baseball. It’s one of those records that you don’t ever see or think will be broken. You see guys like Hank Aaron, who had it for so long. You see guys like Sammy (Sosa) and Mark McGwire and you start climbing it and it’s like `Oh, this could really happen.’ It’s a fun thing as a sports person. It was fun watching those guys chasing it.”

”The foul discrepancy and free-throw discrepancy (16-0 in the fourth quarter), is something I’ve never seen in my 38 years in the league,” Carlisle said, crediting the Lakers for being aggressive. ”There was a lot going on out there and they’ll see it in black and white in New York. Or actually, they’ll see it in HD.”

The Denver Nuggets continued their exceptional run as they beat the Golden State Warriors 134-117. For the Nuggets, Murray had 33 points and Nikola Jokic had another big night with 22 points, 16 assists and 14 rebounds for his 17th triple double of the season. For the Warriors, Stephen Curry had 28 points and Jordan Poole added 22 on a night when they hit 19 3-pointers. The Western Conference leaders improved their home record to 24-4 as they extended their lead at the top with a record of 36-16. 

”Jamal, his greatness is on full display,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who campaigned for Murray to be added to the All-Star roster should a replacement be necessary.

”He’s good at everything,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”Literally every time he has the ball, everybody is a threat. Your entire defense has to be engaged.”

”I’m very optimistic we can get it turned around,” Curry said. ”But we do have to address certain issues with our team, whether it’s performance issues or whether it’s trying to find the right combinations.”

Also read: NBA: Celtics beat the Nets while Warriors lost to the Timberwolves