(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers bounced back after a disappointing loss to the 76ers as they beat the Houston Rockets 140-132. For the Lakers, LeBron James had a season-high 48 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in his third 40-point performance since turning 38 less than three weeks ago as LeBron James had a season-high 48 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in his third 40-point performance since turning 38 less than three weeks ago. Only Michael Jordan has more 40-point games in NBA history after turning 35 – Jordan had 12, and James has eight. For the Rockets, Alperen Sengun scored a career-high 33 points and Jalen Green added 23 in the Rockets’ 11th consecutive loss.
”I was extremely exhausted today,” James said. ”I could have very easily took tonight off, but … our ballclub couldn’t use me taking a night off, I didn’t feel like. I wanted to sit on that loss with Philly last night. I wanted to get that out of my taste buds and see if we could win a ballgame tonight. It was a complete team effort, and I just tried to make plays.”
”That ranks right at the top,” said Rockets coach Stephen Silas, an assistant on James’ first two teams in Cleveland. ”I’ve seen him have some really good (performances), and that was in the top five for sure.”
”I think it’s historic, man, on a lot of different levels,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. ”For him to be at this point in his career and still able to produce at the level in which he’s producing, I think all of us being able to witness it, be a part of it, it shows his competitive spirit, his no-quit mentality. … Whenever he’s out there, he’s just been competing. It’s amazing to see.”
Jayson Tatum dropped 51 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets 130-118. For the Celtics, Derrick White scored 19 points and eight assists and Malcolm Brogdon scored 16 as they have won seven straight games. Tatum was 15 of 23 from the field and 14 of 14 from the foul line as he reached his seventh 50-point game of his career. Boston is 33-12 on the season and has the best record in the Eastern Conference. For the Hornets, Jalen McDaniels led the scoring with a career-high 26 points from 5-of-7 shooting from the 3-point range while LaMelo Ball finished with 25 points as Mason Plumlee had perhaps his best all-around game of the season, with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. The Hornets have one of the worst records in the NBA (11-34) as they have lost eight of their last nine games.
”Jamal texted me after the game and he’s like, `If you’re ever that close to 50, nobody is going to remember the time and score, they’re just going to report if you got 50 or not,” Tatum said. ”That’s what was going through my mind: Jamal telling me if you get that close to 50, go get it.”
”He makes me look like a better coach,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
”He didn’t settle for shots,” Mazzulla said. ”He got catch-and-shoots, he got off the dribbles, he got layups. The other piece of that is the humility of our team to really work with him to get those 51 points.”
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