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In an unexpectedly interesting game between the reigning Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers, four-time league MVP LeBron James became the 20th NBA player to reach 25000 points in the history of the game. Among the active players, he is sixth behind Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki. However the more important record by James was that at 30 years and 307 days, he eclipsed Bryant as the youngest NBA player ever to reach 25000 points.
This is yet another “youngest player ever” milestone in an already great career for James. He already holds the record for being the youngest ever player for every points milestones from 1000 to 24000. James required a total of 915 games to accomplish this feat, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain (691), Michael Jordan (782) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (889). He reached the 25000 points plateau in characteristic fashion when he slammed down an alley-oop pass from teammate Matthew Dellavadova. In the following time-out the Philadelphia crowd honored him with a standing ovation.
"It's pretty cool," James said. "I haven't really had an opportunity to categorize the list of things that I've done, but to be able to do it in a winning fashion, No. 1, and with this group of guys and do it in a building that loves the game of basketball -- and obviously, they are Sixers fans 'til death, but they know and they respect the game of basketball -- and to get a standing ovation for reaching the milestone, it was very special."
It would surely have been sweet to capture a win on the night that he reached 25k points. Not to mention, James’ near triple double performance of 22 points, 9 rebounds and 11 assists that led the team to a comeback win over the 76ers. The Cavs were down by 14 after the first quarter to a not so reputed Philadelphia team but a furious led by James and Kevin Love (15 points, 8 rebounds) ensured their team the win. Cleveland is now on a 3 game winning streak after losing their first games against the Chicago Bulls.
Although James has quite easily beat Bryant’s record at almost every points milestone, the journey to 25000 by no means has been an easy task. In his 13th season James has had to pay a lot more attention to his body maintenance program than he might have thought of. Last season, he took leave from the team for a period of 2 weeks to allow his body to heal after the miles on it from four consecutive NBA Finals appearances with the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014.
Coming off his 2 weeks absence a resurgent James ensured the Cavs had a spectacular second half of the season, which booked the second seed in the East. Through injuries to key players, James carried his team to the Finals becoming the only player in NBA history to make 5 consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
Here’s how James got to 25000 points(Video courtesy: NBA’s official channel)
It has been an incredible journey up until this point for James and here’s a video summarising it(Video courtesy: NBA’s official channel)
Guess the Lakers players!
