LeBron James career scoring leader for the Cav’s at the tender age of 23

LeBron did it in 168 less games than Brad Daugherty.

LeBron James now has 10,414 points.

Oh, and his team won, too.

Cleveland 90 Toronto 83

Coach Mike Brown pointed out LeBron is only 23.

The sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena immediately rose to give James a thundering ovation and when Brown called a timeout, the All-Star forward first walked to the bench to receive high-fives and hugs from his teammates.

Then, he walked to the center of the court to acknowledge Cleveland’s fans, who serenaded him with “MVP” chants throughout the evening.

“These fans have watched me go from zero points to 10,000” he said. “They’ve seen me go from a young man to a man now. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve had. To be the all-time leader is something that I never dreamed of. But now that it’s here, it’s an unbelievable feeling.” source

Perhaps Joe Smith said it best.

“It took me 13 years to get 10,000 points,” Cavs forward Joe Smith said. “It goes to show what kind of talent he is. I know he has at least 30,000 more in him.”

Long live the King, LeBron James.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will LeBron someday get to 30,000 points?

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Rip and Sheed get serious

The Pistons won their 11th game in a row. Only Portland with 13 wins in a row this season has a longer streak. Portland lost Monday to Utah to end their streak.

Saturday in a marquee matchup the Pistons face the Celtics in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace added 20 and the Detroit Pistons extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 101-85 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

Chauncey Billups had 18 points for Detroit, which has not lost since an 80-77 defeat in Houston on Dec. 12 and owns the longest current run in the NBA.

The Pistons’ streak is their longest since winning 11 straight in January 2006. source

The Celtics will be looking for a little revenge after losing to the Pistons recently. The Pistons tagged Boston with their first home loss of the year.

Toronto

The Toronto team was overmatched by the Pistons, but Chris Bosh had a great game.

Chris Bosh had 23 points and 16 rebounds for Toronto, which has lost five of seven.

Chris has a shot at being a 20/10 guy this year. Right now he is averaging 20.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. 20/10 is an exclusive crowd.

Jose Calderon is close to averaging a double double an even more exclusive crowd. Jose had 15 points and 9 assists. He is averaging 11.2 points and 8.1 assists on the year.

Rip Hamilton

While Rip was in a slump early in the year and fighting minor injuries, lately he has been nye unstoppable.

Hamilton has averaged 21.6 points during the streak and has led the Pistons in scoring in the past seven games.

Should be a fantastic game with Boston on Saturday!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Garnett, Allen, and Pierce get their revenge?

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New night, new hero. It is easy to play in Boston these days.

Ray Allen made the winning 3-pointer with less than 3 seconds to play, and finished with 33 points in the Boston Celtics’ 98-95 overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. source

Boston beat everyone’s surprise in the league last year, the Toronto Raptors.

It was a big night for Allen.

Allen, who made 11 of 16 shots, passed 17,000 points for his career.

T.J. Ford, remember him? He tied the game at 95 all with a 3 pointer at the 4.4 second mark of overtime. This was time for one of the big three, but it turns out it may have been time for all three.

Paul Pierce inbounded the ball to Allen, who came off a Garnett screen to drain the tiebreaking basket.

“That was the play we drew up, for Ray to come off,” Pierce said. “We had second and third options but the first option was open. We got the ball to him and executed our play.” source

It is too early to decide if any teams are really on the right course, but Boston continues to show the unselfishness that a lot of us doubted they could pull off.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Who is your favorite Celtic?

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Kevin Garnett thinking this could be my year

Well, at least one prognosticator thinks the Boston Celtics have a great shot at the NBA Title. Kenny Smith of Yahoo Sports is picking the Celtics as the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Here is part of his list of the best of the Eastern Conference.

1. Boston Celtics with the 3 headed monster of KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.

With three unselfish stars in Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, the learning curve is shorter than most. They will dominate a conference with only three contenders (the others being Detroit and Miami).

Boston is lacking in supporting players. Unselfish or not, there is only 1 basketball for the 3 of them. That could spell problems.

2. Detroit Pistons with 4 great players and no center.

They are one of the few teams that can only beat themselves. That’s why they always believe it’s a fluke when they lose. Experience wins, and Detroit’s veterans can still get the job done.

No defensive presence in the paint proved to be their undoing in the playoffs. The mirror problem is no post presence either. Rasheed Wallace prefers the perimeter.

3. Miami Heat with the young super star and the aging Hall of Famer to be.

Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade tasted the sweet smell of success two years ago and have the tools to get back to the NBA finals. With Alonzo Mourning leaving after this season, an aging Shaq gets one last real chance at another title before he’s done.

Can Shaq do it again? What injury will he have to embellish to skip most of the regular season?

4. Cleveland Cavaliers with the King who would inherit the NBA.

LeBron James and the young Cavs shocked the world last season, but the surprise factor is over. They will have a big task learning to live up to expectations.

LeBron can be a one man team for so long. Where will he get the support he needs? And don’t even think about what happens if he gets hurt.

There you have it. Maybe the weakest the Eastern Conference has been in some time.

Don’t count out the Bull, Raptors, or Nets either.

Right now, though, it is the 3 headed monster led by Kevin Garnett!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Are you picking Boston or does that just seem too easy?

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Again the Toronto Raptors and the Portland Trailblazers led by their respective GM’s Bryan Colangelo and Kevin Pritchard are living up to their reputation as busy off-season teams. The Blazers made many moves on draft day including a deal to ship Zach Randolph to the Knicks. The Raptors have recently traded for Pistons guard/forward Carlos Delfino. Now they have reached an agreement with Heat sharp-shooter Jason Kapono to sign with them for a 4 year $24 million contract.

The addition of Jason Kapono really seems like a page taken out of the Suns’ book where GM Bryan Colangelo used to to manage before leaving for Toronto. Having good shooters like Jason Kapono, Andrea Bargnani, Jorge Garbajosa and others allows the team to spread the floor and take open outside shots just like when Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson were with the Suns a few seasons ago. I guess being a member of the 2006 champion Miami Heat and a four year veteran is also a nice reason to be with the young Raptors team. He could give the team a nice locker room presence for a team looking to make the playoffs again this coming season.

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