LeBron James Beats Michael Jordan’s Scoring Record: Is ‘King James’ Better Than ‘His Airness’?

NBA superstar LeBron James recently surpassed one of the astonishing accomplishments in NBA history — Michael Jordan’s all-time playoffs scoring record. The impressive lead came after their win against the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

On Thursday, the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to secure a spot in the upcoming NBA Finals with their victory against the Boston Celtics. The team’s feat called for a double celebration, particularly for the 32-year-old NBA superstar, LeBron James.

LeBron James’ three-pointer in the last minute of the third quarter not only added up to their lead but also broke an all-time scoring record in the playoffs by none other than the legendary Michael Jordan.

The shot gave him 29 points for the game and 5,989 points in his postseason career. LeBron James’ new record has put Michael Jordan on the second spot with 5,987 points.

The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the game against the Boston Celtics, 135-102, with LeBron James finishing with 35 points. This marks the third consecutive conference title for the team and LeBron James’ seventh straight NBA finals.

This latest record-breaking victory led avid fans to compare LeBron James to Michael Jordan. Many were quick to point out that the Cavs’ star player is most likely to beat Michael Jordan’s other records, claiming that the latter’s accomplishments might be “overrated.”

However, others claimed that Michael Jordan remains and will continue to be the greatest player of all-time, pointing out that his record was undefeated for 20 years.

With this, many are wondering, who is the better player, King James or His Airness?

The comparison between Michael Jordan and LeBron James has been around for years and yet fans continue to question who is the better player. However, that remains to be unanswered as both have their respective skills and accomplishments.

King James has always been very public about his admiration to His Airness, admitting that he is a huge fan of the iconic NBA superstar. In an interview, LeBron James revealed that he chose his jersey number, 23, because of Michael Jordan. He also added that he “fell in love with the game” because of the former MVP.

“I wear the number because of Mike. I think I fell in love with the game because of Mike, just because of what he was able to accomplish. When you’re watching Michael Jordan it’s almost like a god. So I didn’t think I could be Mike.”

The former Miami Heat player also admitted that he has been trying to channel his inner Michael Jordan not only on his game but also his fashion statement.

“Like I said, I did pretty much everything that MJ did when I was a kid,” James stated.

“I shot fadeaways before I should have. I wore a leg sleeve on my leg and folded it down so you saw the red part. I wore black and red shoes with white socks. I wore short shorts so you could see my undershorts underneath. I didn’t go bald like Mike, but I’m getting there. But [my baldness] will be post-career, though. That’s the only thing I didn’t do. But other than that, I did everything Mike did. I even wore a wristband on my forearm. I didn’t do the hoop earring, either. That was Mike. But I did everything Mike did, man.”

In the same interview, LeBron James also revealed that he is grateful for being compared to the NBA legend, claiming that he still has a long way to go to prove himself in the industry.

“For my name to come up in the discussion with the greatest basketball player of all time, it’s like, ‘Wow.’ I wanted to be Mike, so for my name to come up in any discussion with Michael Jordan or Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] or all these guys that’s paved the ways for Tristan [Thompson] and Kevin [Love], myself and Swish [Smith], it’s a wow factor. I don’t really have anything to say.”

Amid all the comparisons with Michael Jordan, LeBron James admitted that he has made it his “personal goal” to follow MJ’s footsteps of becoming an NBA legacy. He pointed out that his goal is to have people see him as an all-time great player on Michael Jordan’s level once he retires and not involving any statistical comparison.

“It has nothing to do with passing the rings, passing the points, passing MVPs. It’s just my personal goal to keep me motivated — that’s all.”

So far, LeBron James is at seventh place (28,787 points) on the all-time regular-season scoring list. He still trails behind Michael Jordan who is currently at fourth place (32,292 points).

It is expected that LeBron James will pass Michael Jordan’s record in the 2018-19 season given that he maintain his average scoring of 27.1 per game in the regular season.

[Featured Image by AP Images, File]