Summiting Everest

 He broke the unbreakable record on a step-back jumper in the third quarter, and then the tears came. His mom and his wife and his kids came down from the stands. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the man just surpassed, came onto the floor to congratulate him.

And LeBron James wept.

Wept, and acknowledged how weird this was, how surreal, how becoming the NBA's alltime leading scorer isn't something a guy thinks about when he picks up a basketball for the first time.

Wept, and said how special it was to be in the presence of greatness, talking not about himself but Kareem, whose 38,387 points had stood as the NBA's unconquerable Everest for 39 years.

"To be able to stand in the presence of such a legend as great as Kareem, it's very humbling," LeBron said, having summited that Everest.

His 38 points last night was the 10th 30-point game he he's had in 17 games since he turned 38 two days before the new year. He's gone over 40 five times in those 17 games. There's never been anything quite like it, this sustained excellence that seems to go on and on and on without letup.

And of course, the haters -- and there are more than a few -- will say "Yeah, but ..."

Yeah, but he's a drama king and a spoiled mega-rich athlete and he has opinions, for God's sake, and isn't shy about expressing them.

Yeah, but he called our Lord and Savior President Trump a bum.

Yeah, but ... but ... but ...

Enough, people. Enough.

It's time to acknowledge that LeBron James is the greatest player in NBA history, unless it's MJ or Kareem. It's time to acknowledge that, for all his rich-guy arrogance and entitlement (shocker!), he doesn't show up on police blotters, is by all accounts a good husband and father, and has done enormous good with his vast wealth.

And all the rest of it?

Hey. Haters gonna hate. 

And look especially small and petty now in doing so.