On Monday night, the Houston Rockets hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in a matchup with temporary control of third place in the Western Conference at stake.<\/p>\n
For basketball historians, the game featured a rare scoring milestone: the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, facing sixth-ranked Kevin Durant. <\/p>\n
The two entered the night with a combined 75,368 career points.<\/p>\n
Luka Don\u010di\u0107 led all scorers with 36 points for Los Angeles, while Jabari Smith Jr. paced Houston with 22.<\/p>\n
The first half was tightly contested, with neither team creating much separation. But Durant sparked a 15\u20138 run over the final five minutes of the second quarter to give Houston a 57\u201351 lead at the break.<\/p>\n
At halftime, Don\u010di\u0107 had 23 points \u2014 the only Laker in double figures. KD and Jabari led the Rockets with 16 and 13, respectively.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles took an 83\u201380 lead into the final stanza, where the game slowed to a grind. Neither team reached double digits in fourth-quarter scoring until the final minutes.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the Lakers broke through.<\/p>\n
\nRockets have played 4,755 regular season games in franchise history<\/p>\n
Their 35 second half points scored tonight is the 13= worst in franchise history<\/p>\n
When you take the modern scoring era into account, we might have just witnessed the worst second half in franchise history<\/p>\n