LeBron James is good at basketball. Like really, really good at basketball. So good in fact that with a fourth quarter bucket on Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, James became the youngest player ever to score 25,000 points in the NBA. James reached the mark at 30 years and 307 days, just younger than Kobe Bryant who accomplished the feat at 31 years and 151 days.
Of course, it being LeBron the milestone had to be accomplished with a flourish, which LeBron added right before reaching the mark on a thunderous alley-oop dunk earlier in that fourth quarter.
(vine via the NBA).
Not only was it nice to see LeBron channel his 2009 form on the dunk, it was fitting that what has become on of his signature moves, that one-handed pull-back power dunk, happened so close to his milestone. Think back to some of James’ best remembered plays and many involve that same top of the jump cock-back, before smashing the ball down so hard through the rim it seems like he will dent the floor.
The milestone also came in a win, another big part of James’ career. The dunk came in the middle of a big second half run that saw Cleveland go up double-digits after a slow start, thanks in part to the waking up of James.
Of course, this won’t be the final milestone that James gets in his career, but 25,000 points deserves to be recognized anytime a player gets there and especially when someone gets there faster than anyone else in the history of the game. Just another record for one of the best players in the history of the NBA.