An angry LeBron will visit Nets, Knicks as he closes in on NBA scoring record

LeBron James is closing in on history as comes to New York for a back-to-back with the Nets and Knicks.

And he won’t be in a good mood.

James -- who stands 117 points shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s all-time scoring record -- was apoplectic after officials in the Lakers-Celtics game failed to call a foul on Jayson Tatum as James drove to the basket for a potential game-winning layup at the end of regulation Saturday night. The Celtics ended up winning 125-121 in overtime.

James was beside himself after the no-call, hopping up and down, slapping the court, and holding his hands on his head before dropping to his knees in the paint and putting his head into his arms on the floor.

“There was contact,” crew chief Eric Lewis said to a pool reporter after the game, per ESPN. “At the time, during the game, we did not see a foul. The crew missed the play.”

“It’s challenging,” James said, after finishing with 41 points on 15-for-30 shooting. “I don’t get it. I’m attacking the paint, just as much as any of the guys in this league that’s shooting double-digit free throws a night, and I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.”

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The Nets (Monday) and the Knicks (Tuesday) will now have to deal with an angry LeBron -- and his angry teammates.

The Nets (30-19) beat the Knicks, 122-115, Saturday night at Barclays Center when Kyrie Irving, LeBron’s former teammate in Cleveland, scored 21 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter with former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski sitting courtside.

The Nets continue to play without star Kevin Durant (knee), whom James has said is the “first” who could eventually pass him on the scoring list.

James, who turned 38 on Dec. 30, is averaging 30.2 points per game. At this pace, he would break the NBA scoring record Saturday in New Orleans.

Obviously, it would be ideal for James if he breaks the record at home in Los Angeles, where Kareem starred with the Showtime Lakers. The Lakers’ next home game is Feb. 7 against the Thunder.

“I think he can be celebrated appropriately if he breaks that record in L.A.” NBA veteran Antonio Daniels said recently on SiriusXM NBA radio.

Abdul-Jabbar has held the record since April 5, 1984 — nearly nine months to the day before James was born.

While Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook was his signature shot, James has never had one shot that defines him.

“It’s not like I have a signature one-leg Dirk [Nowitzki] fadeaway or a patented Michael Jordan fadeaway or a Kareem skyhook or a [Hakeem Olajuwon] Dream Shake,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I think the only signature thing that people always talk about is my signature tomahawk dunk in transition.”

James still knows how to score in crunch time, too. He ranks second in fourth-quarter scoring this season behind Irving.

“I mean, I know how to put the ball in the hole,” James told ESPN. “When I say I’m not a scorer, I say it in a sense of, it’s never been the part of my game that defines me. ... But there’s an argument to it. When you look at how long this record has stood and the great Kareem, being able to accomplish something like that.

“But it won’t be for me to discuss because I’ve never felt that way.”