The Lakers sat at home today to meet the Warriors, and finally won 124-116 against the Warriors, ending a four-game losing streak and giving the Warriors four consecutive losses.
In today's game, James made a big splash and played the best game of the Lakers' career. Throughout the game, James played 39 minutes, shooting 19-of-31, 6-of-11 from three-point range, 12-of-13 from the free-throw line, slashing 56 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, scoring nearly half of the team's total score.
James not only led the Lakers to end a four-game losing streak today, but also set a string of records. The 56 points set a new single-game scoring record for James this season (43 points) and a new Lakers career record (51 points), and was his highest single-game score since scoring 51 points against the Heat on November 18, 2018. James thus became the sixth player in Lakers history to cut 50+ in a single game multiple times, the top six being Kobe Bryant (25 times), Elgin Baylor (17 times), Jerry West (5 times), George McCann (4 times), Chamberlain (2 times), and O'Neal (2 times).
James' 50+ is also the league's 10th 50+ this season, and James (37 years and 65 days) has also become the fourth player in NBA history to score 50+ in a single game after the age of 37, the first three players are Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Crawford.
In the first half, James shot 10-of-15 from the field in 18 minutes, scoring 26 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Before the third quarter was over, James had already cut 30+, his 26th time this season, and the most he had since the 2017-18 season.
In addition, James (37 years and 65 days) also became the oldest player in the third quarter after Jordan in 2001, cutting 40+ players in the third quarter, and Jordan had 44 points in three quarters during the Wizards' game against the Hornets on December 29, 2001, when he was 38 years old and 315 days old.
After today's game, James' career total playing time has reached 62,784 minutes (11,035 minutes in the playoffs), surpassing Karl Malone (62,759 minutes, including 7,907 minutes in the playoffs) to second-place in history, behind Jabbar, with a total of 66,297 minutes played (including 8,851 minutes in the playoffs).
James' regular-season playing time is much worse than Malone and Abdul-Jabbar, but he has more playoff playoff time, so he can match Malone. After surpassing Malone in total playing time, James' total score is also about to surpass Malone, and after scoring 56 points today, James has scored 36720 points, just 208 points away from Malone, and is expected to complete the overtaking this season.