LeBron never believed he could eclipse Jordan
LeBron James found it hard to come to terms with moving past Michael Jordan's scoring record in the NBA playoffs after the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 135-102 on Thursday.
Also read: LeBron James vs Michael Jordan - A Statistical Comparison
The Cavs icon hit 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to help his side win the Eastern Conference Finals 4-1, setting up a third-successive meeting with the Golden State Warriors in the championship series.
He moved past Chicago Bulls legend and six-time NBA champion Jordan's mark of 5,987 postseason points in the third quarter and finished the match eight clear of his hero.
"I wear the number [23] because of Mike, I think I fell in love with the game because of Mike - just seeing what he was able to accomplish," James told a media conference.
"But I feel like Mike was so... you know, when you're growing up and you're seeing Michael Jordan. He's almost like a God. So I didn't believe that I could be Mike.
"For my name to come up for discussion with the greatest basketball player of all time I was like 'wow'.
"I did pretty much everything that MJ did when I was a kid, 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 did everything Mike did, I even wore a wristband on my forearm. I wanted to be Mike, so for my name to come up in any discussion with Michael Jordan is a wow factor.
"[But] the biggest thing for me, sitting here today, after breaking the all-time scoring record in playoff history is that I did it just being me."
Also, Congrats to my bro @KingJames on becoming the all time playoff scoring leader!!!#StriveForGreatness #DefendTheLand
— Tristan Thompson (@RealTristan13) May 26, 2017
James will now play in a seventh consecutive NBA Finals against the rival Warriors, but he is not turning his attention to them just yet.
"I'm not really in the right mind to even talk about Golden State, it's too stressful and I'm not stressed right now, I'm very happy about our accomplishment," he added.
"Golden State have been the best team in our league for the last three years and then they added an MVP [Kevin Durant].
"That's all I can give you right now because I don't want to be stressed, they cause a lot of stress and I'll get to the point when we start to prepare for them."
The 2017 Eastern Conference champion, Cleveland @Cavs! #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/IZtY1s1Ylq
— NBA (@NBA) May 26, 2017