There was no between-the-legs dunk or crowd-wide chants when the Brooklyn Nets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 122-115 in the fourth of five Christmas Day NBA games at the Crypto.com Arena Saturday Night - but there were two records set, one milestone reached, and two men etch themselves onto an exclusive list.
The former? LeBron James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Christmas Day, dropping 39 points to run his total to 422 on Christmas – 27 more than No. 2 Kobe Bryant. LeBron tied Bryant on a field goal late in the second quarter, and then surpassed his fellow Lakers legend shortly after with a free throw.
LeBron also did this in his 16th career game on Christmas Day, tying Bryant for the most games played on Dec. 25.
The former, part two? Brooklyn's Patty Mills knocked down an XMas Day-record eight three-pointers, the most anyone has hit from deep in 74 years of NBA games. Mills was 11-of-17 overall, including 8-for-13 from beyond the arc, on the way to a career-high-tying 34, and his eight threes surpass the previous record of seven held by multiple players, most recently tied by Miami’s Duncan Robinson last Christmas.
And as for the milestone and its mener, James Harden racked up 36 points, 10 boards and 10 assists while Russell Westbrook had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 dimes (the latter mark passing Bryant for third-most assists on XMas Day) to make Lakers-Nets the first Christmas Day game with multiple triple-doubles.
Related
Westbrook’s joined him with Oscar Robertson as the only players with multiple Christmas Day triple-doubles, and he and Harden made it three on the day, as Kemba Walker had become the seventh NBA player to go for a triple-double in the Knicks’ win over the Hawks on Saturday afternoon.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch