LeBron James became the youngest player in National Basketball
Association history to score 9,000 career points in helping the
Cleveland Cavaliers edge the Milwaukee Bucks 104-99 in double
overtime on Monday.
The 22-year-old registered 31 points to boost his career total
to 9,028, passing the milestone a year-and-a-half younger than Kobe
Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron James
"It is an accomplishment," James told reporters.
"It is the individual hard work that I put in during the summer
time. It translates into what I do now on the court during the
season.
"It is a credit to myself and to the guys I work out with in the
offseason."
In other NBA games, it was: Suns 100, Spurs 95; Mavericks 111,
Magic 108; Heat 91, Timberwolves 87; Pacers 119, Knicks 92; Hawks
116, Jazz 111; Warriors 125, Grizzlies 117; and Trail Blazers 88,
Hornets 76.
In Cleveland, Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored the Cavaliers' first six
points of the second overtime to seal the win. He finished with 24
points and 11 rebounds.
"We were concentrating so much on LeBron that we forgot about
Zydrunas, and he shot the ball well," Bucks center Andrew Bogut
said.
"None of his buckets really were inside. When he shoots the ball
like that, he's tough to stop."
James played 51 of 58 minutes in the marathon game. Michael
Redd, who led Milwaukee with 22 points, played 54 minutes while Mo
Williams played 51.
Devine Brown finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and six
assists for the Cavaliers. Daniel Gibson added 12 points.
Williams ended up with 18 points while Desmond Mason scored 15
and Charlie Villanueva added 13 for Milwaukee.
The Cavaliers, the defending Eastern Conference champions, have
still lost eight of their last 10.
In San Antonio, Grant Hill had 22 points and Phoenix handed San
Antonio its first home loss of the season.
Leandro Barbosa added 18 points for the Suns, whose win might
have helped them get the bad taste out of their mouth they brought
with them after losing a controversial and testy Western Conference
semifinals series last season.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with a season-high 36 points and 17
rebounds in his second game back since sitting out for four with a
sprained ankle, and Manu Ginobili added 18 points. But the Spurs
were without Tony Parker, who sat out third straight game with a
sprained left ankle.
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 11 of his 31 points in the
fourth quarter and Dallas shut down Dwight Howard and Orlando in
the final three quarters.
The Magic thought they'd tied the game at 109 when Keith Bogans
nailed a long jumper over Nowitzki's outstretched arm with 3.5
seconds left, but officials correctly ruled that his right toe was
on the 3-point line, keeping Dallas ahead by a point.
Jerry Stackhouse made a pair of free throws to stretch the lead
back to three, but Orlando still had one last chance to tie it - a
long, running 3-pointer from the right sideline by Keyon Dooling as
time expired.
The arena got real quiet as everyone watched the ball float
toward the rim, but it banged between the iron and the backboard
and popped out, giving Dallas its fifth win in six games and
sending Orlando to a rare road loss. The Magic are 12-4, with the
other defeats coming at San Antonio, Phoenix and Milwaukee.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 19, 2007)
