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A night after becoming just the second player in NBA history to reach 38,000 career points, LeBron James hit another milestone on Monday night as he dropped his 100th career 40-point game in leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 140-132 win over the Houston Rockets.

For the 15th time in his last 16 games, LeBron hit at least 50% of his shots from the field, bucketing 16 of 26 from the floor and 11 of 12 from the foul line en route to a season-high 48 points. James also added nine assists and eight rebounds while committing zero turnovers. In fact, the Lakers set a new franchise record by turning the ball over just twice as a team.

A night after recording his fourth triple-double of the season, Russell Westbrook had another solid outing in the victory, hitting nine of 16 shots from the field for 24 points while adding five rebounds and four assists.

Alperen Sengun led the way for the Rockets, hitting 14 of 17 shots on the way to a career-high 33 points. The Turkish star also recorded 15 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks in the loss, Houston’s 11th in a row.

How close is LeBron James to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record after the Lakers’ win over the Rockets?

LeBron James during a Lakers-Rockets matchup in January 2023
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts during play against the Houston Rockets in the second half at Crypto.com Arena on January 16, 2023 | Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

With his 48-point effort on Monday night, LeBron James now has 38,072 regular-season points for his career, putting him just 315 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s all-time NBA record of 38,387.

Assuming LeBron stays healthy and maintains his season scoring average of 29.7 points per game moving forward, he’ll pass Kareem on Tuesday, February 7, when the Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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