The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 118-105 on Wednesday night, a game in which a lot of history was made. Although the Hornets owner and world-renowned greatest player of all time Michael Jordan was not in the arena to witness it, LeBron James tied him in consecutive double-figure scoring games. A streak Jordan did for 866 straight games, and something LeBron has now done for 866 consecutive regular-season games.
Not only did he tie Jordan in that record, however, James also tied Michael for the most 30+ point games against the Hornets franchise, after his 41-point game, he now has 20 of those particular games.
But although it was a record-breaking night for King James, and the performance put on by LeBron was the main talking point. Hornets fans were more excited about their young Point Guard and the milestone he accomplished.
Kemba becomes all-time scoring leader
The Charlotte Hornets are not a franchise like the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics who have had many great, legendary players. However, they have still had a few great ones that have stayed loyal to the team and put up a lot of points.
Coming into the game, Walker needed just 20 points to pass Hornets legend Dell Curry and move into the number one scoring spot while playing almost 200 fewer games than Dell. And he did just that, scoring his 21st point in the dying seconds and getting a standing ovation from the crowd at the Spectrum Center.
Kemba became emotional with all the crowd clapping and all the players from both his team and the Cavaliers team embracing him and congratulating him. LeBron did that after the game, and also expressed his appreciation on his Instagram account shortly after.
LeBron congratulates Kemba on Instagram
It’s rare for a player on another team to get the respect from LeBron James and be congratulated on his Instagram account, but that’s exactly what happened.
LeBron James obviously has a lot of respect for how Kemba Walker was able to come from the streets and is now an NBA all-star. LeBron said he got to know Walker a little better playing alongside him on the all-star teams, and he knows the work Walker puts into his game to be as successful as he is today. He sees a bit of himself in the youngster.
At just 27 years old, Walker is already one of the best point guards in the league, and there was speculation about a trade with Isaiah Thomas which would’ve sent KW to the Cavs earlier this season. It didn’t end up - falling through, but it makes us wonder how good of a duo LeBron and Kemba could be.