A free throw in Boston. A jumper in Detroit. A Kobe Bryant-inspired dunk in Los Angeles. A banked-in three-pointer in Toronto.
During 19 NBA seasons, these individual moments have been opportunities to celebrate LeBron James and his mostly unmatched basketball skills.
They were just slices of the story — scoring was never the ideal way to view him.
“I don’t think he sees himself as a scorer. I think he’s a guy who sees himself as a great all-around basketball player. … He has the ability to put up big numbers,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said earlier this week. “Right now, if his team needs him to score 50 to win, he’s going to try to do that. But that’s, really at his core, not who he is to me.
“He’s just one of the best all-around players to ever play the game.”
Yet over time, they add up — the alley-oop in Portland, the up-and-under in San Antonio, the step back in Charlotte and the layup in Chicago.
And Saturday night, finally with a cutting layup during the first half against the Wizards in Washington they all amounted to a historic achievement — 36,930 career points, second-most in NBA history.
James reached the mark in his 1,363rd game. Karl Malone, who he passed, scored 39,928 in 1,476 games.
The Lakers star was a game-time decision to play Saturday, suiting up on the second night of back-to-back games once his lingering knee swelling wasn’t a problem.
He started with a putback. Added points on a slick driving reverse and thundering one-handed dunk. He got hot from deep and hit back-to-back triples, forcing the Wizards into a timeout.
Trailing Malone by just three, James tied the marks with another three, a testament to the evolution in his game from his debut as a teenage sensation in 2003.
Heading into Saturday’s game with the Wizards, James was averaging 29.7 points — his highest scoring average since the 2009-10 season.
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