LeBron James Passes Jerry West for 7th on NBA's All-Time Postseason Scoring List

LeBron James ascended past Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing on the all-time scoring list during the NBA's regular season, so it's only right that he continues making history in the postseason. With a mid-range jump shot in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics, James moved past Lakers great Jerry West for the seventh-most points in playoff history.

He would go on to finish with 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Cavs beat the Celtics, 99-91, to go ahead 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. 

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 215 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.

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 a reachable 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 four 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.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.