James has triple-double, leads Lakers past Knicks in OT

NEW YORK (AP)— LeBron James will soon be the NBA’s top scorer, though that wasnever his focus.

He’s also oneof the game’s leading passers, and combining the two — possiblybetter than anyone ever — is what really makes him proud.

“I didn’t getto this point in my career by thinking about records or how manypoints I have, whatever the case might be,” James said. “I justplay the game the right way. I approach the game every night onlytrying to be a triple threat by scoring, rebounding, assisting,defending, and may the chips fall where they may.”

James movedwithin 89 points of breaking the career scoring record and climbedinto fourth place on the assists list, finishing with his firsttriple-double of the season in his return to Madison Square Gardenas the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New York Knicks 129-123 inovertime Tuesday night.

James had 28points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, with the points giving him38,299 for his career. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the leader with38,387.

But James’ game has alwaysbeen about more than scoring, as he proved again Tuesday. He fedDennis Schroder for a 3-pointer that snapped a 118-all tie with3:13 remaining, grabbed his 10th rebound later in the extra periodand then powered to the basket for a 127-121 lead with 19 secondsto go.