“Once you get into a ZONE, you feel like you’re shooting a golf ball into the ocean.” (c) LeBron James
Monday night, the Miami Heat wrapped up a week-long home stretch in their routing of the Charlotte Bobcats. Normally, when you think of Michael Jordan’s cat team, competitive play rarely comes to mind. But with Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker leading things, the team has been playoff bound this season; obtaining one of the league’s best defenses (under the radar).
LeBron James however was up to the challenge and publicly embarrassed the team, scoring a career high of 61 points; with 25 scored in the third quarter alone. His previous career-high was set in 2005 as Cavalier against the Toronto Raptors, where he scored 56 points. Now James surpasses Glen Rice for the Heat’s franchise record of 56 points set back in 1995.
Hit the jump for more on the story and video highlights from LeBron’s career night.
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James came up just one point shy of the highest scored in game this season to Carmelo Anthony, who coincidentally dropped his 62 on the Bobcats. From being triple and even quadruple teamed at times, LeBron was nearly flawless on Monday going 8-10 from long range, in Wade’s night off. His supporting cast of Toney Douglas and Chris Bosh were the only other players in double digits for Miami.
Although the KING had arguably the best performance of the season, he’s still a few steps behind Kevin Durant for a third straight MVP award. However, he’s now moved himself closer to the race with this outing that will come down to the wire. The Heat still remain 2 games behind the Indiana Pacers for the Eastern Conference’s number 1 seed, as they now take their 8-game winning streak to Texas for upcoming games against the Rockets and Spurs.