LeBron James acknowledged the love and appreciation he has had in the sport of basketball in order to become the NBA's first 50,000-point man on Tuesday. (More Sports News)
James needed just a point to reach 50,000 combined points, including regular season and postseason, when he came into the game against the New Orleans Pelicans and reached it with his first shot.
James netted a three-pointer to put the Los Angeles Lakers 13-6 up with just over eight minutes 30 left on the clock in the first quarter. He closed out with 34 points, eight rounds and six assists in a 136-115 victory to put the Lakers second in the West on a 39-21 record.
But the story of the night was James, who has now scored 41,871 points in the regular season and 8,162 in the playoffs.
"It's a hell of a lot of points, and I'm super blessed to be able to put that many points up in the best league in the world with the best players in the world over my career," James said of his achievement in an on-court interview after the game. "It's pretty special."
"I've had the opportunity to play the game that I love, and I've always been true to it, so I'm going to always try to give back," James said Tuesday night.
Since turning 40 years old, James has averaged 26.4 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 8.1 assists per game, which is comparable to the record from his MVP season in 2012-13 (26.8 points per game, eight rebounds per game and 7.2 assists per game).
"It's amazing," said team-mate Luka Doncic of James. "Watching him do this stuff at this age, it's just unbelievable. Like, 50K points, I can't even explain how insane that is. He might get to 70K, you never know."
James was named Western Conference Player of the Month for February just hours before reaching his 50,000-point milestone and Lakers coach JJ Redick was effusive about him even before the game.
"We wouldn't be in the position we're in without him playing at the level he's been playing at," Lakers coach JJ Redick said prior to바카라 웹사이트the Pelicans game. "And that's offensively and defensively."
While Doncic's target of 70,000 points might be a little too ambitious, James did explain what has allowed him to stay at the top for so long, despite his advancing years.
"Just not falling out of love with the process," he said. "Continuing to fall in love with the process, that's the hardest thing, every single year. You know it's going to be a long season, it's 82 games, 41 of them are on the road. It's a lot of travel and as you get older, it affects you even differently.
"If you have a family, it affects you even differently. So, the process. Trying not to fall out of love with the process is the hardest thing."
