LOS ANGELES: On Tuesday, LeBron James made NBA history once again by becoming the first player to surpass the 39,000-point mark. The Lakers easily defeated the Jazz to advance to the next round of the league’s new in-season tournament.

Before the game, the 38-year-old needed just five points to accomplish the milestone. He made history in the first quarter of the Lakers’ 131-99 victory by draining a three-pointer.

As his accomplishment was announced, James, who last season overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time top scorer, saluted the audience.

James’ most recent achievement created a joyous atmosphere at the Crypto.com Arena as the Lakers won handily and advanced to the quarterfinals of the in-season competition.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers in scoring with 26 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists, while James finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

In Phoenix’s 120-107 thumping of the Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Durant also reached a scoring milestone, climbing to 11th place on the NBA’s career scoring record.

In order to pass Elvin Hayes on the scoring charts, Durant needed to score 14 points, and he duly defeated them in the opening quarter with no points scored. Durant led the Phoenix scoring with 31 points in the final seconds, bringing his career total to 27,331 points.

In a thrilling shootout, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 157-152 to advance to the next round.

Tyrese Haliburton of Indiana, who claimed this week that the new tournament gave early-season games “more juice,” scored 22 of his 37 points in the third quarter as the Pacers overcame a 20-point hole at halftime.

Buddy Hield took the court in the fourth quarter and scored 13 of his 24 points, leading the Pacers to victory in a tense back-and-forth final frame.

Haliburton, who also dished out 16 assists, declared, “It’s good to clinch,” following the Pacers’ victory in Group A of the East, where they moved to 3-0 in tournament action. “Buddy made a lot of big buckets in the closing minutes to win us the game.”

With 1:20 left, Hield’s three-pointer gave Indiana a 152-150 lead. With less than a minute remaining, Hield made another three-pointer to give the Pacers a 155-152 lead after Saddiq Bey’s layup had tied the game for Atlanta.

With five tenths of a second left, Hield completed the incredible score with an alley-oop slam.

Hield made all six of his three-point shots and nine of his eleven field goals.

Indiana’s Obi Toppin scored 21 points off the bench, and Bennedict Mathurin chipped in with another 19.

The Hawks were ahead by 20 points in the second quarter thanks to 38 points from Trae Young.

The quarterfinals are scheduled for December 4-5 in Las Vegas. The victors will move on to the semifinals on December 7 and the championship game on December 9 of that same year.

Darius Garland scored 32 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime, setting up a thrilling conclusion in Philadelphia.

It preserved the Cavs’ chances of moving on to the next round of the postseason with a wild card slot.

Despite playing without injured Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert once more, the Cavaliers prevailed thanks to 26 points and 13 rebounds from Jarrett Allen and 20 points from Max Strus, who made five three-pointers.

The 76ers were ousted from the tournament despite 32 points and 13 rebounds from reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid and 30 points from Tyrese Maxey for Philadelphia.