Lebron James is truly one of the greatest basketball players to have ever touched an NBA court, and fortunately for us fans, we got to witness that greatness in HD last night, as he continues to climb his way up the rankings of NBA record books.
James had the worst first-quarter shooting performance of his career Sunday, starting Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks 0-of-10 from the floor and taking 16 minutes to get on the scoreboard. However, that did not stop him from passing Karl Malone for sixth on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list on Sunday and setting a personal career-high (playoff or regular season) with 37 field goal attempts, while finishing the game with 37 points. With a layup in the third quarter of Sunday’s Game 3 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, his 17th and 18th points of the contest, James moved past Karl Malone for sixth in all-time playoff scoring. So it was definitely a big night for Lebron James, even though it was one of the worst starts to a playoff game in his whole career.
He’d finish the game with 37 points on a career-high 37 field goal attempts, pushing his career post-season total to 4,782 in just 171 games. With those 4,782 career post-season points, James now trails only Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan on the all-time leader-board.
James also recorded his 12th career post-season triple-double Sunday, moving him past Jason Kidd for second all-time. Magic Johnson leads the way with 30 such performances. He notched the triple-double before the third quarter was even through, eventually finishing with 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists in the overtime victory.
LeBron James: first player since Charles Barkley in 1993 with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a playoff game
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 25, 2015
The Cavaliers now have a solid 3-0 series lead the Eastern Conference Finals, all but assuring James’ ticket to a fifth straight NBA Finals.
