Seven minutes and eight seconds before the end of the third quarter, LeBron James received the ball on the left flank and hit a three-pointer. It was James' 21st point of the game, surpassing Karim Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time top scorer (regular season and playoff scores combined).
'This milestone is so cool, it's incredible, everything this guy has done in his career is amazing, and that's why I believe he's the greatest player of all time.' Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.
Since James entered the industry in 2003, when it comes to selecting the greatest scorer in history, the media rarely puts him in the top three options. James himself has never been a player who puts scoring first, and he has stressed countless times that scoring is just one way to influence the game.
But now, James has become the all-time scorer by virtue of talent, self-discipline, evolution, and evergreen.
This is far from the end and limit of James, even if James is 37 years old, he has more crazy goals to achieve in the next 2-3 years.
How hard is it to become the top scorer in history?
It's hard enough to survive in the predatory NBA, and to succeed in the discussion of the greatest stars in history requires incredible talent and unimaginable efforts.
In terms of physical talent, although James is rare in history, it is not necessarily the strongest in history. In terms of effort, Michael Jordan, who ran a "breakfast club" in the Bulls era, and Kobe Bryant, who claimed to get up at four in the morning to train, were not necessarily inferior to James. But why did James end up being the all-time scorer? Why did James become the all-time total scorer when he was still some distance away from Abdul-Jabbar in the regular season?
The answer is evergreen, dominance.
The first is Evergreen, in the top 5 of the historical total score list, the other 4 people have the peak stage, the score reached the highest value in a certain period, and then began to decline, and the data after the age of 35 has been a big decline compared with the peak period. But Unlike James, looking at his career, you can't even be sure at what stage James's peak appeared. This season, the 37-year-old James still averaged 29.1 points per game, the highest since the 2009-10 season, when James was 25 years old. James was a fantastic enough to play in the twilight of his career than he had at the golden age of 27 and 28.
The second is the dominance of the playoffs, insiders always say that the regular season is a formality, and the playoffs are the stage to test the color of superstars. So far in his career, James has only missed the playoffs in the first 2 seasons of his career and his first season with the Lakers. James has led his team to the playoffs 15 times, only once in the first round, and he has played at least 20 games in the playoffs in nine times. From the 2010-11 season to the 2017-18 season, James led the team to the finals for eight consecutive years. In the top 5 of the all-time total score list, the other 4 people have not achieved these achievements.
In the pursuit of historical scoring champions, there are many factors that are uncontrollable, such as attendance, such as management's ability to build a team that can go far in the playoffs. James's success was based on the fact that God gave him a perverted physical talent that allowed him to guarantee attendance most of the time. Despite several shrinkages in the schedule, and a sharp drop in injury attendance three times in the past four seasons, and a slowdown in the accumulation of regular season scoring, James has caught up with Abdul-Jabbar with his long,stable and amazing dominance in the playoffs.
James' way to success
Entering the top 5 total scores in history are basically basketball evergreens, in the fierce NBA want to become an evergreen tree, first of all, you must have the self-discipline to slow down the speed of physical decline as much as possible, and secondly, you have to constantly evolve to make adjustments and changes according to the changes in the body and the times.
James's self-discipline has won wide recognition, in 2020 the new crown virus attacked, the world is dark, even if the league is suspended, James has not wasted training, Vogel called James like a madman, which also has the result of James playing a heroic team to win the championship after the resumption.
Many people reach the age of 35 or go downhill or simply retire, but James is different, and the traces left by the years on him are only an increase in injuries and a decline in attendance (his injuries actually have a lot of luck). For James to maintain self-discipline and carefully maintain his body, the active players and retired celebrities are all satisfied.
In 2019, Jerry West lamented: "I'm amazed at how James is, my God, you look at how he's on the court, you look at the way he's playing on the court, and more importantly, the time he's putting in to stay in shape, I'm amazed. At this age, he still has such a performance, it is crazy. James is focused, disciplined, and that's why he's stayed in shape for so long, and more importantly, why he's still one of the greatest players of all time we've ever seen. ”
In 2020, Bryant once stood up for James, saying: "Everyone said he had been angry. When I first got into the league, the average age in the league was 32, 33, and now James is 35, and those people are saying, 'You're out of breath, you're going to be finished.' That's a stupid statement. ”
Even James' opponent Antetokounmpo said in 2020 that he saw James as a role model, using James as a benchmark: "A lot of times, we think, 'Okay, we're going to retire when we're 35.'" But you look at this 35-year-old guy, he's still one of the three best players in the world, which makes us want to get to that level as well, and his performance has changed perceptions. ”
While polishing his body through self-discipline, James did not neglect the technical sculpting. James has undergone several transformations in his career, at the beginning of his career, he was mainly strong, there was very little outside projection, and he continued to improve his outside projection ability on the way forward, while also strengthening the defense. In the Heat era, after the first year of the championship failure, James studied back-to-back play with Olajuwon, while raising the mid-range shooting and three-point crosshairs to a very high level. On the Heat, the second Cavaliers trip, James' performance as the number four has been very good. Joining the Lakers, James played a full-time point guard during the championship season, and after Schroeder's arrival, he added a no-ball offense.
Then this season, after russell Westbrook arrived, James began to play more of a center, and the effect was excellent. Vogel said: "He's evolving to keep his performance level at a high level, and a lot of players like him will add three-point shots as he gets older, but I think after Davis fell, James was willing to play center to play the blocker, which is really a big reason why he's done well this season, which is another part of the story he's written." ”
"In terms of trying to evolve, I never put a ceiling on myself," James said, "and I'm just evolving, whatever the team needs me to do." ”
Future sprints are more crazy goals
James has always stressed that becoming an MVP and breaking up all kinds of data records has never been his goal, these are just the results of his hard work. But whether or not James deliberately pursues records, he has left an insurmountable benchmark for younger generations, and it is true that the future is expected to hit even crazier records.
James ranks 3rd in history on the regular season career scoring list, and at the current pace, James has great hopes of overtaking Malone this season to rise to No. 2 in history. If James stays healthy, surpassing Abdul-Jabbar in the future is not a problem at all, and his ultimate goal may even be 40,000 points.
In the playoffs, James' total score has reached 7631 points, and he has already left Jordan (5987 points). Of the active players, Durant, the closest to James, has 4,454 points. In the future, James is likely to be the double scorer in the regular season and playoffs, and it is difficult for a junior to challenge his record.
As for the total regular season and playoff scores, James may raise this figure to more than 46,000 points in the future.
Of course, for James, what he wants most is still the championship. James currently holds 4 championship rings in his hands, and striving for the championship is his biggest goal in the few remaining careers. He is eager to be like Abdul-Jabbar, who can still win the title as a core player after the age of 37.
James has said he feels like he's as good as he was when he was 35, 32, 29, and he just wants to push the limits and see how far he can go.
What heights can James reach? That's what everyone wants to know. The answer to this question will eventually be revealed, and fortunately, you and I are witnesses.