LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Cleveland superstar LeBron James became the first player to score 20,000 points in a Cavaliers jersey on Sunday, pouring in 25 in the NBA champions’ 107-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
James added 14 rebounds and eight assists as the Cavs withstood Russell Westbrook’s 24th triple-double of the season — and his first against Cleveland.
Westbrook scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out 10 assists.
But he struggled much of the day connecting on just seven of 26 from the field and coughing up four turnovers in the face of strong defending by Cleveland’s Iman Shumpert.
Cleveland led by as many as 19 in the third quarter, but the Thunder pulled within 82-75 on a three-pointer from Cameron Payne while Westbrook rested during the fourth quarter.
After Westbrook re-entered, the Thunder went scoreless on their next six possessions.
A driving layup from Cleveland’s Richard Jefferson pushed the lead back to double figures and Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer stretched the lead back to 98-82 with 3:57 remaining.
Irving scored 29 points with 10 assists as the Cavs shook off the early departure of Kevin Love. Love had played less than two minutes in the second quarter when he left with back spasms.
James, who is eighth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 27,938 career points, has nearly twice as many points as anyone else in a Cleveland uniform. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is second on the team’s scoring list with 10,616 points.
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