SAN ANTONIO—LeBron James has made it a point not to revel in his accomplishments. He allowed himself a moment to savor this milestone, though.
James became the youngest ever to join the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 30,000-point club.
He became the seventh player with 30,000 career points when he hit a jumper with one second left in the first quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers’s 114-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
“I don’t ever fully appreciate what I do anytime I accomplish something, no matter if it’s a win or a loss,” James said. “I’m looking forward to the moment when I can be done with the game and I can sit back with my family and my friends, and we can drink some wine and talk about all the accomplishments that I had and feats I was able to accomplish.”
James, who needed seven points to reach the milestone, finished with 28.
He was recognized by the arena before the second quarter and got a standing ovation from Spurs fans. James patted his heart and said, “Thank you so much.”
“Just a special moment,” James said. “I just started thinking about everything that my journey [has entailed], from being a kid that first picked up a basketball when I was 5 years old to first starting playing organized basketball when I was nine, and all the way up until this point. I give a lot of thanks to a lot of people. It’s just 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 assists. For me to sit here and be the youngest player ever to reach 30,000.”
He missed his first two midrange jumpers against San Antonio before making two driving lay-ups and a 20-footer. He hit the milestone jumper over Danny Green from 19 feet out.
The Cavaliers were unable to celebrate immediately because the Spurs had an opportunity for a last-second shot. When Brandon Paul missed a 71-foot heave and the buzzer sounded, James’s teammates quickly streamed off the bench to congratulate him.
Among the first to greet him was guard Dwyane Wade, James’s teammate for four seasons in Miami, including two NBA championships.
“I just told him I’m proud of him,” Wade said. “You see a person’s work ethic, you know a person’s heart, cares about team, cares about winning. Even though he’s had a lot of individual success, he doesn’t feel comfortable with some of it.”
The 33-year-old James joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (30,808) on the list.
At 33 years and 24 days, James is the youngest to reach the mark. Bryant was 34 years and 104 days when he got there.
The 14-time All-Star has averaged 27.1 points since breaking into the league as an 18-year-old in 2003.
“It’s an awesome achievement,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said, “but what else do you say about LeBron that we haven’t said many times before? He’s just a great, great competitor and a great player.”
WARRIORS BEAT KNICKS
Kevin Durant mouthed off to official James Williams, got tossed late and might have cost himself another assist during a career night of dishing out the ball.
“I told him he was wrong,” Durant said afterward of arguing with Williams in the first half over a carry.
Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 32 points in the third quarter to go with seven assists and six rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors used a big second half to beat the New York Knicks, 123-112, on Tuesday night.
Durant added 14 points, a career-high 14 assists and two blocks before his ejection with 2:50 left for a second technical. Zaza Pachulia added 13 points in Golden State’s seventh straight victory in the series.
“Second half, his whole thing was like he’s trying to get me…. He was searching for me, he’s looking to try to tech me up to get me back because he’s still got his feelings hurt from the first half,” Durant said. “That’s what’s been going on around the league the whole year, a bunch of that.
“I gotta keep my head a little bit, but I was upset. I’m a human being too, I get upset,” he added.
Curry made eight of 15 from deep while sporting sneakers featuring the faces of his daughters Riley and Ryan and the message “I can do all things.”
“I had those in my closet for a while, and it’s actually something with [Under Armour] that you can obviously design your shoes so I did it a long time ago,” Curry said. “Just walked by ‘em today and was like, ‘all right, let me go back and rock the Curry 1s with my daughters on the side to give me a little inspiration.’ It’s nice being home and all that kind of stuff.”
The Warriors bounced back from last Saturday’s eight-point defeat at Houston to improve to 10-0 following a loss this season.
Michael Beasley scored 21 points, and Courtney Lee contributed 20, as New York lost for the third time in four games and sixth in eight.
“We got lucky a little bit in the first half,” Lee said. “They were missing a lot of opens shots, and then, in the second half, those shots that they were missing went down, and we weren’t able to get stops and get out and convert on those opportunities.” The Warriors opened the third on a 16-9 burst to lead for the first time all night, then went on to score 100 or more points for a 14th straight game.
Draymond Green had 12 points, six assists and five rebounds as the Warriors finished with 40 assists.
Curry and Thompson shot a combined 4 for 16 in the first half, including two-of-10 on threes, before Curry found his stroke and wound up nine for 19 overall in his 14th 30-point performance of the season. Thompson struggled to nine points on four-for-10 shooting, missing all three of his three-point tries.
The Knicks made 11 of their initial 20 shots, while the Warriors began eight-of-18 and one-for-eight from behind the arc to fall behind 29-19—Curry missed four of his first five field goals.
Andre Iguodala, who had dealt with a bruised left calf that kept him out the previous two games, returned to the Warriors rotation and scored five points in 20 minutes off the bench.
Image credits: AP