LeBron James scored 28 points and dished 12 assists to become the fourth player in NBA history to top 12,000 in a career, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a convincing 101-73 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Luke Kennard added 19 points in the victory that assured Los Angeles (52-29) will finish no lower than fourth place in the Western Conference and have homecourt advantage in a first-round playoff series.
The Lakers remain one game behind the third-place Denver Nuggets (53-28) with one game to play, and Los Angeles owns the tiebreaker edge.
Dillon Brooks scored 12 points and reserve Royce O’Neale added 11 for the Suns (44-37), who were without star Devin Booker (ankle). Phoenix scored just 25 second-half points in a contest that meant nothing after it previously locked up the No. 7 spot in the West and a home play-in game.
The Suns’ Grayson Allen exited in the second quarter due to a left hamstring injury and didn’t return. He had eight points in 13 minutes.
Assist No. 12,000 came less than five minutes into the game when James collected a rebound on the defensive end and threw a long chest pass to the other end. Deandre Ayton caught the ball over the smaller Collin Gillespie and put it in the hoop.
That was James’ second assist of the contest. At the game’s end, James’ total sat at 12,010.
Former Utah Jazz star John Stockton is the all-time leader with 15,806 career assists. Recently retired Chris Paul (12,552) is second and Jason Kidd (12,091) stands third.
Rui Hachimura added 13 points and Ayton scored 10 for the Lakers, who shot 50.7% from the field and were 8 of 20 (40%) from 3-point range.
James had 14 points and five assists in the first quarter. Los Angeles led 30-14 late in the period before the Suns went on a 22-5 burst and took a 36-35 lead in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by O’Neale.
The Lakers recovered to lead 57-48 at halftime. James had 22 points and Kennard added 17 in the half.
Late in the third quarter, James scored on a layup to push the lead to 17. Then he stole the ball and cruised uncontested for a ferocious dunk that made it 79-60 with 1:12 left in the period.
Los Angeles held an 81-64 edge entering the fourth quarter and led by as many as 29 as Phoenix managed just nine final-quarter points on 4-of-21 shooting (19%).
The Suns committed 24 turnovers and shot just 33.8%, including a shaky 7 of 40 (17.5%) from behind the arc.
