LeBron James Passes Shaquille O'Neal on NBA's All-Time Postseason Scoring List
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James passed Shaquille O'Neal's 5,250 points for fourth place on the NBA's all-time postseason scoring list during Thursday night's Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Toronto Raptors, per the NBA on ESPN:
James recently passed Tim Duncan for fifth all-time during the Cavaliers' second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
James entered Thursday night with 5,232 career postseason points, 18 off of O'Neal's mark. With 8:06 remaining in the third quarter, James drove to the basket and hit a layup for his 19th point of the game, putting him ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers legend.
While O'Neal is best known for his three titles in Los Angeles, he was teammates with James for one year during the 2009-10 season in the King's first stint with the Cavaliers.
O'Neal needed 216 games with an average of 24.3 points per game to get to his 5,250 points, while James started his 188th postseason contest on Thursday, averaging 28.0 points per game.
The scoring figures have been down in this year's playoffs, though. James has averaged 23.6 points per contest heading into Thursday night. A lot of that has to do with Cleveland's overwhelming success, as the team has won its first nine games of the postseason, allowing ample time for James to rest.
When he's been on the court during the Eastern Conference Finals, he's been channeling his inner O'Neal in terms of the area of his scoring. He's been able to dissect the Toronto defense and get to the rim for easy buckets. ESPN Stats & Information showed his shot chart after the first half of Game 2:
James has some work to do to get to third place on the league's all-time postseason scoring list. Kobe Bryant has almost 400 points on him with 5,640.
But right now, James is more likely focused on trying to deliver that elusive championship not only to the Cavaliers franchise, but also to the city of Cleveland, which hasn't celebrated a Big Four title (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL) since 1964.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
