LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James continues to put on age-defying performances.
The 37-year old Lakers superstar had 50 points Friday night and became the oldest player to have multiple 50-point games in a season in Los Angeles’ 122-109 victory over the Washington Wizards.
James surpassed Bernard King, who was 34 when he did it in 1990-91 with Washington.
It was the 15th 50-point game in James’ 19-year career, including the postseason. He’s also the first Lakers player since Kobe Bryant in April 2007 to score 50 in back-to-back home games. James had a season-high 56 in a win over Golden State last Saturday.
It was also the first time since 2009 with Cleveland that James had multiple 50-point games in the regular season.
James also had six rebounds and moved past Dikembe Mutombo into 12th place on the NBA’s career defensive rebounds list with 8,553.
James rallied the Lakers back with 12 straight points during a 22-8 run when they took an 82-75 lead with 2:25 remaining. James’ flurry included a thunderous dunk midway through the quarter to put Los Angeles up 73-70.
He then had 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers steadily pulled away. Los Angeles, which had dropped six of their last seven coming into the game, led by as many as 18 midway through the fourth.
Malik Monk scored 21 points and Talen Horton-Tucker added 15 for the Lakers (29-37), who remain in ninth place in the Western Conference.
Kyle Kuzma, who played for the Lakers for four seasons, led Washington with 23 points and rookie Corey Kispert scored a career-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers.
The Wizards (29-36) have dropped two straight and five of their last seven. They are 2 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.