PHILADELPHIA — Nobody has spent more time on an NBA court playing in games than LeBron James. Only James set the mark in the most lopsided loss of his career.
James became the league’s all-time leader in minutes played during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 138-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Taking into account both regular-season and postseason games, James has now played 66,319 minutes in his career, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s total of 66,297 minutes.
James’ 30 minutes against the Sixers might have felt longer than usual, however, with Philadelphia outscoring L.A. by 30 points in the time the 38-year-old star was in the game.
“That doesn’t mean much to me,” James said when asked about the minutes mark.
The 44-point loss — the largest of James’ 21-year career and tied for the fifth largest in Lakers history — was far more pressing.
James and the rest of L.A.’s main rotation players were pulled for good with 8:18 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Lakers already trailing by 27. James was asked whether he has thought about what needs to change with his team — which is now 3-6 on the road and 10-8 overall — to avoid defeats like Monday’s moving forward.
“What needs to change in order for that not to happen again? Um, a lot,” James said.
Asked if there was anything in particular L.A. needed to focus on, he repeated: “No. A lot.”
The Lakers trailed 32-19 at the end of the first quarter, digging an all-too-familiar early hole they would try to climb out of the rest of the contest.
“Feel like we just weren’t together,” Lakers big man Anthony Davis said. “A lot of quick shots, one-pass shots, no-pass shots. They started making a lot of shots. And when their lead kind of opened up a little bit — 15, 20, 25 — I think we all tried to be the hero to make the team come back instead of just sticking with it.”
The Sixers made a season-best 22 3-pointers on 46 attempts (47.8%). L.A., meanwhile, was just 7-for-25 (25%) from deep.
“We got killed on the 3-point line today,” James said bluntly.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves was more colorful in his description of what went wrong.
“I mean, they made a lot of 3s, we didn’t, and they beat the s— out of us,” Reaves said. “So, I don’t know. Go back and watch this…
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