James savours 'special moment' after hitting 30,000-point milestone
LeBron James made NBA history yesterday morning (Singapore time), after becoming the youngest player ever to reach the 30,000 career regular-season point milestone.
James, who turned 33 on Dec 30, surpassed Kobe Bryant as the youngest player to hit the 30,000 figure. Bryant was 34 years and 104 days old when he reached the mark, reported AFP.
The Cleveland superstar James did it by nailing a step-back jump-shot against the San Antonio Spurs with 1.1 seconds left in the first period for his eighth point of the contest.
James finished with 28 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the field in the Cavaliers' 114-102 loss to San Antonio, boosting his total to 30,021.
James came into the game needing just seven to scale the height only six others have achieved - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928), Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (30,808).
James was quoted as saying on ESPN: "Just a special moment. I just started thinking about everything. My journey from being a kid who first picked up a basketball when I was five years old to first playing organised basketball when I was nine all the way up to this point.
"I give a lot of thanks to a lot of people.
"This is a special moment. It's something I never set out to do. I'm not even a score-first guy when it comes to playing basketball.
"I love getting my teammates involved and seeing my teammates be excited about scoring and me getting the assist and things of that nature."
OTHER RESULTS
- Orlando 99 Sacramento 105, Oklahoma 109 Brooklyn 108, Golden State 123 NY Knicks 112, LA Lakers 108 Boston 107
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