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Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers set some records in the NBA before LeBron James came along. He was the youngest player to record 25,000 career points, and he achieved that on this day 12 years ago against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although James became the 20th player to reach 25,000 points, he surpassed Bryant as the fastest to reach the milestone at age 30.
In his quest for total dominance, James recently broke another longstanding Bryant record. Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, was the all-time leading scorer on Christmas Day with 395 points, but James passed him after dropping 13 points in the first half against the Brooklyn Nets last month.
Bryant's 31 points were not enough to help the Lakers overcome the Cavs on this day in 2010. However, it helped him set the record at 31 years, 151 days. His successor, James, finished with a game-high 37 points to lead the charge in Cleveland's 93-87 victory.
It was one of 25 losses for the Lakers in the 2009-10 season on their way to topping the Western Conference standings with a 57-25 record. Their opponents, however, finished with a league-best 61-21 record.
Nonetheless, the Lakers had a more successful season, seeing how success is marked by winning a championship. With Phil Jackson at the helm, the Lakers won their second consecutive championship in Shaquille O'Neal's absence. Coincidentally, Shaq was with the Cavs that season and failed to make it out of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Kobe Bryant is fourth on the all-time scoring leaderboard
Two years ago today, Kobe Bryant was third in career scoring behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) and Karl Malone (36,928). Barely a week later, LeBron surpassed Bryant's 33,643 career points with a lot fewer games, no less. (James has 36,319 points and could overtake the lead next season.)
Nonetheless, that does not take away from how much of an exceptional player he was. Kobe played the game the right way and had five championships and two Finals MVP awards to show for it.
Kobe also had 18 All-Star and 12 All-Defensive team selections in his 20-year career. The two-time scoring champ played his entire career in purple and gold and has his two jersey numbers (8 and 24) hanging in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena.
The 1996 NBA draft's 13th overall pick was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2020. He averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 1,346 career games.
Guess the Lakers players!
