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The Cleveland Cavaliers completed their series against the Boston Celtics after the Cavs won Game 5 on Thursday night by the lopsided score of 132-102, but not before LeBron James made history.
During Thursday night’s series closing win, LeBron passed Michael Jordan on the all-time playoff scoring list. LeBron needed 28 points going into the game to tie Jordan’s record of 5,987 playoff points and he did so when he dropped home a three in the third quarter to give him 29 points, officially passing Jordan. LeBron ended the night with 5,995 total career playoff points. He’ll soon be the first player ever to score 6,000 career playoff points.
LeBron finished with the game with 35 points and spoke about passing his childhood idol during the postgame press conference.
“I wear the number because of Mike. I think I fell in love with the game because of Mike,” James said of his No. 23 jersey. “When you're growing up and you're seeing Michael Jordan, it's almost like a god. So I didn't ever believe I could be Mike.”
It took LeBron 212 playoff games to reach the mark while it only took Jordan 179 games. However, LeBron took 118 less shots than Jordan during those playoff games in order to reach that mark. LeBron takes pride in the fact that even though he idolized Jordan, he’s excelled to this point by doing things through his own personal style of basketball.
“I think the biggest thing for me sitting here today after breaking the all-time scoring record in playoff history is that I did it just being me.” James said.
The Cavaliers are now all set to face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals that are scheduled to begin June 1. It will be the third consecutive Finals to feature these two teams with the first two series being split. And James will be able to continue adding to his playoff resume.