Lebron23
04-21-2015, 10:47 PM
With that last bucket, LeBron James passes Jerry West for 7th place on the all-time playoff scoring list!
With a mid-range jump shot in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics, James moved past Los Angeles Lakers great Jerry West for the seventh-most points in playoff history.
James came into Game 2 of the first-round series 18 points behind West, having scored 4,457 points in his 153 postseason contests (29.1 points per game). It's taken the Cavaliers forward seven extra games to pass West, and James will likely pass Julius Erving later in this postseason if the Cavs advance to the second round.
Among active players, James is third on the playoff scoring list behind Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. Michael Jordan holds the all-time record with 5,987 points, which he put up in a relatively breezy 179 postseason contests (33.4 points per game).
For comparison, James would need to maintain his current scoring rate and play in a total of 274 playoff games to surpass Jordan. Putting it another way, there's a reason why Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history and everyone else is battling for second place.
Even accounting for James' relatively young age and the continued success he is expected to have, the top spot on the all-time playoff scoring list is probably an unreachable goal. In his nine career postseason appearances before 2015, James' teams averaged 15 games per trip. Again, assuming he keeps a similar scoring pace, he'd need to make the playoffs seven more times (not including this season) to have a shot at passing Jordan.
That said, James' career has rarely been defined by his individual scoring prowess. And with the Cavs looking like the Eastern Conference favorites, odds are that James will be more focused on Game 3 than passing West over the next couple of days.
The Legends Continues. He might become the all time NBA playoffs scoring leader someday.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2438625-lebron-james-passes-jerry-west-for-7th-on-nbas-all-time-postseason-scoring-list
With a mid-range jump shot in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics, James moved past Los Angeles Lakers great Jerry West for the seventh-most points in playoff history.
James came into Game 2 of the first-round series 18 points behind West, having scored 4,457 points in his 153 postseason contests (29.1 points per game). It's taken the Cavaliers forward seven extra games to pass West, and James will likely pass Julius Erving later in this postseason if the Cavs advance to the second round.
Among active players, James is third on the playoff scoring list behind Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. Michael Jordan holds the all-time record with 5,987 points, which he put up in a relatively breezy 179 postseason contests (33.4 points per game).
For comparison, James would need to maintain his current scoring rate and play in a total of 274 playoff games to surpass Jordan. Putting it another way, there's a reason why Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history and everyone else is battling for second place.
Even accounting for James' relatively young age and the continued success he is expected to have, the top spot on the all-time playoff scoring list is probably an unreachable goal. In his nine career postseason appearances before 2015, James' teams averaged 15 games per trip. Again, assuming he keeps a similar scoring pace, he'd need to make the playoffs seven more times (not including this season) to have a shot at passing Jordan.
That said, James' career has rarely been defined by his individual scoring prowess. And with the Cavs looking like the Eastern Conference favorites, odds are that James will be more focused on Game 3 than passing West over the next couple of days.
The Legends Continues. He might become the all time NBA playoffs scoring leader someday.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2438625-lebron-james-passes-jerry-west-for-7th-on-nbas-all-time-postseason-scoring-list