Before the Storm

Before the historic showdown between the Heat and the Grizzlies began, James had just become the youngest player in NBA history to reach 23,000 points in a game against the Timberwolves, hitting another career milestone.

And in this game against the Grizzlies, James only needed 11 points to push his single-season total past 2,000. If he did it, he would achieve the feat of scoring more than 2,000 points in nine consecutive seasons.

Scoring more than 9,000 points for nine straight seasons was an incredible achievement. In NBA history, only Karl Malone, with 12, and Jordan, with 11, had done it more times than James. As long as James scored 11 points in the next game, he would rise to third all-time in that record.

James's string of career milestone nights should have received massive media coverage. But in the face of the Grizzlies' 72 wins, these milestone records of James's drew little mention beyond a few local Miami outlets.

People only knew that the Grizzlies might create a second 72-win miracle in the next game. No one knew that James had already become the youngest 23,000-point scorer, or that he was on the verge of surpassing 2,000 points in a season for the ninth consecutive year.

James had been relegated to the supporting role completely and utterly.

So before the game began, James was filled with rage.

Just imagine it: a superstar who had commanded the attention of all America since high school, only to be overshadowed by an undrafted player after dominating the league for more than a decade. Any normal person would have been furious. Any normal person would have felt unwilling to accept it.

What was more, that undrafted player had declared that he would secure the winning streak record against him. That was even more