Fan Collector's Edition! Aesthetic slow-motion replay of James surpassing Malone Raises his arm to accept the Wizards' full-court salute
On March 20, Beijing time, in the Lakers and the Wizards, LeBron James surpassed Carl Malone in the total score of his regular season career and rose to the second place in history, second only to Karim Abdul-Jabbar.
In the second quarter of 5 minutes and 20 seconds, James cut into the inside line to receive the ball to the basket, which was his 21st point of the game, and the career total reached 36930 points, surpassing Malone's 36928 points.
James has averaged 20+ points per game in 19 years of his career, winning the leading scorer, but he is rarely regarded as a super scorer, and "comprehensive" is his label. Kevin Durant was the most talked about when people were discussing who had the hope of breaking Abdul-Jabbar's regular-season scoring record a few years ago. But now, James is ahead of the curve.
Evergreen is certainly one of his magic weapons, but in the process, the evolutionary beauty he exhibits is even more amazing. From a player with serious polarization of advantages and disadvantages on the offensive end, to the current 37-year-old who is still competing for the scoring king, James has continuously completed version upgrades at different nodes, he has broken countless records, and people can't see where his limits are.
Contrast between the evergreen trees of the two large baskets
Malone is a famous evergreen tree in the basketball world, worthy of the name of "Iron Man". From his inception in 1985 to his retirement in 2004, Malone played at least 80 games in 17 other seasons, with the exception of the 1998–99 contraction season and the final season of his career in 2003–04 (injured). You know, Malone played without load management in his years, and he averaged 40.6 points per season for the highest average season in a single season. While bearing high loads and maintaining ultra-high attendance, Malone's physical fitness can be seen.
James' physical talent is definitely the top in history, and his ability to avoid injuries is also rare in history, but in front of Malone, James also has to bow to the wind. In the Cavaliers and Heat era, James rarely suffered from injuries. But after coming to the Lakers, James was plagued by injuries in three of his four seasons. In the 2018-19 season, James suffered a groin strain and missed as many as 27 games throughout the season. In the 2020-21 season, James missed as many as 27 games due to an ankle sprain. James suffered a abdominal strain this season, missing 12 games in the first half of the season before he was plagued by a left knee injury.
James' luck was also bad, Malone only experienced one shrinkage season due to a shutdown, and James caught up with three shrinkage seasons. One was a drawdown in the 2011-12 season, and the other two were due to the pandemic in the past two seasons, which caused James' team to play 16, 11 and 10 games, respectively.
The average playing time per game and overall attendance are not as good as Malone, but James' progress in harvesting points is still ahead of Malone. Malone scored 36,928 points in 1,476 games and 54,852 minutes. James scored 36,930 points in 1,363 games, 51,997 minutes, and he used fewer games and playing time.
This is determined by the different styles of play of the two men and the era in which they live. James scored 4160 points less than Malone on two-pointers and nearly 2000 points less on the free throws, but James had a three-pointer, and Malone was in an era where three-pointers were not popular, and there was no "three-pointer" requirement for big forwards, so Malone only scored 255 career three-pointers, while James had 6387 points, and he used more three-point points to speed up the progress of catching up with Malone.
The evolutionary beauty of James
When the media talks about "great scorers," James rarely makes the list because his abilities are too balanced. "The Athletic" has invited a number of industry insiders to be the best pure scorers in the voting, Durant is in 1st place with a huge advantage, and James only got 2 fourth votes to rank 10th.
"You would never describe James as a pure scorer just because he did so much work on the court, but if he wanted to, he could get a lot of points and score in a different way. In the eyes of some, James is not a pure scorer, just because he is too strong in every aspect. One judge said.
Like the judge said, James isn't considered a pure scorer, but that doesn't mean he can't score, he can score in a variety of ways, and he's definitely one of the great scorers. Even James himself has been aggrieved by not being able to get into the discussion of great scorers, and he has always believed that his scoring ability is underestimated.
James' scoring was looked down upon by many, in large part because of his obvious technical shortcomings at the beginning of his career. Later, James improved his flaws, but because his breakthrough ability was too strong, projection always seemed like his weakness. The lesser of two evils, the opponent's defense will always let him go. This is not to be considered contempt for James, but only to be too jealous of his breakthrough.
"He became a nightmare for opponents, because shorter, faster players can't physically hold James, he can just crush them with strength." Taller players can physically confront James at the low post, but they are not flexible enough to stop James from attacking the basket. Jimmy Butler's comment was apt.
Although James has shown his talent in his rookie season, his breakthrough effect is not good, coupled with the long-distance two-point shooting rate is only 35.2%, three-point shooting rate is only 29%, any opponent will prevent breakthrough shots. But since the second season of his career, James' breakthrough efficiency has soared, and his ability to respond to mid-range and three-pointers has improved, and he will still be let go, but his overall lethality has improved a lot compared to his rookie season.
James' strength has made a leap in the Heat era, and after the failure of the first year of the championship, James studied back-to-back play with Olajuwon, while raising the mid-range shooting and three-point crosshairs to a very high level. Especially in the heat's third season, James shot more than 44 percent from two-point range, more than 40 percent from three-point range, and 77.6 percent from the basket, making him super offensively efficient.
After joining the Lakers, James's role changed several times. In the championship season, James took up full-time point guard. In the 2020-21 season, James played more without the ball in order to adapt to Dennis Schroeder. This season, with the arrival of Russell Westbrook and James playing more as a center, his blocking downside points increased. No matter where he is, James' scoring has never been affected, and this season even averaged 29+ points per game, entering the scoring championship competition.
"Experience is the best teacher, I've played against a lot of great coaches, Hall of Famers, and they've helped me get to where I am today, and I'm the one who has no weaknesses on either end of the floor," James said. That's not the same as saying I can score every shot, but at this stage of my career, there's nothing I can't do on the pitch, it's all because of previous competitions, adversity and losses. ”
"In terms of trying to evolve, I never set a ceiling for myself, I just evolve, whatever the team needs me to do, if I need to hold the ball, I can do it. If I need to play without the ball, use my empty cut or let me open up space, I can too. However, there is never a ceiling on my performance. ”
The King of Records
NBA statistics are becoming more and more comprehensive, and a few conditions can be added to generate records. James has broken countless records so far in his career, and he can break more in the future.
James has a variety of youngest records, the youngest Mr. 10,000 points, the youngest Mr. 20,000 points, the youngest Mr. 30,000 points all belong to James, and he surpasses Kobe. From 1,000 points to 36,000 points, James is the youngest record holder.
Not long ago, James broke 10,000 assists, becoming the first player in history to score at least 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists.
James has cut at least 2,000 points plus 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 100 steals in four consecutive seasons, the only player in history, and he is also the first player to cut at least 2,000 points plus 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 100 steals in at least eight seasons.
James has averaged more than 25 points per game this season and averaged more than 25 points per game for the 18th consecutive season, further extending his all-time record. If James wins the leading scorer this year, he will be the oldest leading scorer in history, breaking Jordan's record.
James made the All-Time Team 17 times, the Best of the Month 46 times and the Best of the Week 65 times, all of which are all recorded.
James scored in double figures in 1,094 consecutive games, the first in history, and this statistic is still continuing. As long as he is not injured and withdrawn from the game in the middle of the game, James should be able to continue this record.
These are just the main records of the regular season, and James has a lot of records in the playoffs. James is the youngest mr. 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 in the playoffs. James is currently the NBA's all-time playoff scoring champion, and he is the only player in the top 10 in history in terms of total points, rebounds, assists, and steals in his playoff career.
James is the only player to have at least two single-season playoffs to blast at least 500 points plus 200 rebounds and 150 assists, and he is also the only player to have at least 600 points plus 200 rebounds and 150 assists in a single-season playoff.
On April 26, 2018, James completed the whistle-beating in the Cavaliers' 98-95 victory over the Pacers, and he hit four whistle-blowing kills in the playoffs, surpassing Jordan in the first place in history.
In the 2017 Finals, James averaged 33.6 points plus 12 rebounds and 10 assists per game, and he was the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double in the Finals.
In the 2015 Finals, James averaged 35.8 points plus 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, and he was the only player in history to average at least 35 points plus 10 rebounds and 5 assists per game in the Finals.
The above are just some of the most classic of James's many records, next, James's most anticipated record is the regular season historical scoring king, his regular season and playoff total scores have surpassed Jabbar to become the first person in history, and his regular season scores are getting closer and closer to Abdul-Jabbar. Without major injuries, in James' form, he is expected to surpass Abdul-Abdul-Abdul-Abdul-23 in 2022-23 or 2023-24. If James is willing to continue to play, 40,000 points may be his ultimate goal, and he may leave a new height that can never be reached for future generations.