LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for all-time FL playoff record
Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — LeBron James’ two game-winning buzzer-beaters these playoffs might be more memorable, but his jump shot midway through the second quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday was the most historic.
The 22-foot jumper off a JR Smith feed was the 2,357th made field goal of James’ post-season career, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time lead in that category.
James had 44 points on 17-for-28 shooting in the Cavaliers’ 111-102 win over the Celtics in Game 4, which tied the series 2-2.
“To know where I come from, small city 35 miles south of here, and to hear I’m in the same category or talked about and jumping these greats in the playoffs, it’s pretty cool,” James said. “You hear the scoring, the field goals made, and for a kid that really doesn’t care much about scoring.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers star came into the night averaging a league-leading 32.9 points per game in the 2018 postseason, the second-highest scoring average he has posted in the playoffs (James averaged 35.3 points in 14 games in 2009).
During the 2017 conference finals, also against the Boston Celtics, James passed Michael Jordan for No. 1 on the all-time postseason scoring list.
James also ranks first in all-time playoff minutes, first in all-time playoff steals, third in all-time playoff assists, seventh in all-time playoff rebounds and is tied for 16th in all-time playoff blocks.
