James becomes Cavaliers' scoring king
NEW YORK (Reuters) - LeBron James became Cleveland's all-time leading scorer when he led the Cavaliers to a 90-83 home victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
A 29-point performance gave James 10,414 points for his five-year NBA career, surpassing in 380 games the team record of 10,389 by the retired Brad Daugherty in 548 games.
"It was an unbelievable feeling," James told reporters, noting a standing ovation Cleveland fans gave him after he shattered the record in the first quarter.
It came on his fifth point of the night, a layup with 4:10 left in the quarter.
"These fans have watched me go from zero points all the way to 10,000-plus," said the 23-year-old James. "It was special to get the standing ovation."
He added a game-high 12 rebounds but it was his points that were the center of attention. He has now 20 or more in 47 consecutive games.
"The crazy thing about it is he's 23," Cleveland coach Mike Brown told reporters. "To get that franchise record now is absolutely amazing.
"It's been a fun ride and hopefully it's going to be a long ride."
James was the Cavaliers' top draft choice out of high school in 2003. He was 18 at the time.
"When I first started I never set out to be the all-time scorer in franchise history, I just wanted to be the best player I could be every night and continue to get better and help our team get better," he told reporters. "Now that it's year five, five years in the NBA, to be the all-time leading scorer in a franchise, it's an unbelievable experience."
Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers who won for the ninth consecutive game at home.
They have beaten the Raptors seven games in a row in Cleveland.
Chris Bosh topped Toronto with 24 points.
(Writing by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ed Osmond)
