LeBron James Makes History in Cleveland
March 24, 2008
LeBron James became Cleveland 's all-time record scorer Friday at the age of 23. CLEVELAND- Soaring and scoring, slamming and strutting, LeBron James rewrote another page in the Cavs record book Friday night.
James became the Cavaliers' all-time scoring leader-at age 23- in their 90-83 win over the Toronto Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs won their ninth straight at home by holding the Raptors 17 points below their scoring average. Two nights earlier, they beat Detroit by holding the Pistons 25 points below their average.
"Another great performance defensively from our team," James said. "If we can continue to play the defense we've been (playing) in the last few games against very good teams in Detroit and Toronto , we can be very hard to beat because we do have a closer in myself that can close out a basketball game in the fourth quarter."
James had his usual stellar fourth quarter, scoring 11 points to help the Cavs rally. Three empathic dunks by James had the crowd on its feet in the fourth before his two jumpers sealed the game.
"When teams make a run. We need to have an answer," James said. "I've been that answer, and I want to continue to be that answer."
But it was during the first quarter that James made history.
A sell-out crowd of 20,562 fans gave him a lenghty standing ovation when he reached his miles tone. A driving layup by All-Star forward Chris Bosh and 7-footer Rasho Nesterovic with 4:10 left in the quarter pushed James past BRad Daugherty's mark of 10,389 points, giving him 10,414 for his career.
"It was special to get the standing ovation," James said. "Most of these fans have seen me from when I was 13 as a freshman at St. V all the way to now, 23-years-old and in my fifth year in NBA. To be the all-time leader in points scored for this franchise is something that I never dreamed of. Now that it's here, it's an unbelieveable feeling."
Head Coach Mike Brown called it "absolutely frickin' amazing" that James broke the team scoring record by age 23 and before his fifth season ended.
"It took me 13 years to get 10,000 points," said forward Joe Smith, a former national college playr fo the year at Maryland . "...I haven't played with a guy like that since I was in Minnesota with Kevin Garnett. It's a joy to play with him and it's a joy to watch him out there on the floor because of some of the things he's doing.
"I congratulate him, and I know he has at least 30,000 more in him."
