2-8-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

Tess here. I've always had problems sleeping and once I fall asleep, I couldn't stay asleep. I searched getting to sleep ASAP.

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Tess here. I've always had problems sleeping and once I fall asleep, I couldn't stay asleep. I searched getting to sleep ASAP.

So check this out. Sleep ASAP is a real product by NutriStrips. It's not a pill or drug. It's this amazing little thin strip you put right on your tongue and it activates immediately. Tastes great too. Best night's sleep ever. Go to mysleepasap.com and discover how you can try a full month's supply free.

That's mysleepasap.com. Westbrook with it. Give it to Lebron at the right elbow. Lebron one on one against Kenrick Williams backing him in. Turns, shoots, scores.

There he is. All hail the new king in town. Young and old gather round from one iconic Laker to another. The king Lebron James has passed the captain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lebron now stands alone as the NBA's all-time leading scorer. 38,338 points and counting Lebron stands alone at the top.

The game has been stopped as Lebron signals to his family to come onto the court and everybody on their feet at Staples Center. That was the moment couple hours ago that Lebron James reached the summit of the NBA's mighty mountain. It blows me away thinking about it.

Nearly 40 years in the making. April 1984. I was not cognizant of professional sports really at that point in my life. I do not remember this. I remember Kareem later in his career. I remember he and Magic Johnson and those iconic Lakers, the Showtime Lakers in the late 80s and early 90s, especially the duels with the Celtics, so Magic and Larry. I don't remember Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer 39 years ago. That was before Lebron James was born. The record has stood for nearly four decades and as you're here with John Ireland in Los Angeles in front of an electric crowd in what was a playoff atmosphere, Lebron and his teammates, they assault the final stages of this mountain and I mean they truck up the final stages of the mountain to reach the peak. 20 points in the first half, 16 points in the third quarter, 36 was what he needed to start the night. He only had one more bucket after that, but the tally for now until Thursday night's game when the Lakers are back on the court if he plays, 38,390 points. I heard this stat, nerd alert if you will, from Stan Van Gundy who was part of the broadcast on TNT. Do you know there are only seven other players within 10,000 points of Lebron? Although many people believed Kareem's record would never be eclipsed, is there someone who may eventually, does it take 40 years?

I don't know. Is this the record that will never be broken? That will never be broken? The NBA has certainly changed over the course of the last 40 years, a lot more offense, a lot more scoring, but in 20 seasons and 1410 games, Lebron James earned this moment. There was nothing easy about this moment. The wear and tear, the way he plays the game, his commitment to fitness and health, he's changed his routines. Remember he started training with a former Navy Seal a few years ago. He's remained relatively healthy, says his ultimate goal is to play with his son in the NBA, which has given him extra motivation, but along the way we get to witness history. I don't know if this makes him the greatest of all time. I still say that's a completely separate argument, but no one can argue with the fact that Lebron is in fact the scoring king. No one who's ever worn a uniform, no one who's ever worn an NBA uniform or stepped on a court as a player has scored more points than Lebron James. To my beautiful wife, my daughter, my two boys, my friends, my boys, my family, my mother, everybody that's ever been a part of this run with me the last 20 years, 20 plus years, I just want to say I thank you so much because I wouldn't be me without y'all.

All y'all help, all y'all passion, all y'all sacrifice has helped me get to this point. And to the NBA, to Adam Silver, to the late great David Stern, I thank you guys so much for allowing me to be a part of something I've always dreamed about and I would never ever in a million years dreamt this even better than what it is tonight so f*** man, thank you guys. His mom was there, she was one of the first to hug him. His family, as you hear him mention his wife Savannah, his two sons including Bronny, his daughter as well and I'm not sure if you all have seen this, maybe we can retweet it from our show account, but there was a video montage actually a split screen, LeBron with his dribbles at the free throw line, half turn, step back, fall away from the elbow or fade away from the elbow, that was the bucket that made history and so at the top of the screen is the video of that moment. On the bottom of the screen and this is on the NBA twitter, on the bottom of the screen are his sons who are sitting front row and they both have their phones out obviously and they're filming the moment and so their reaction on an iso cam even as dad is eclipsing this incredible record was kind of fun and the crowd itself full of celebrities as you can imagine in Hollywood. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was front row, he spoke with TNT following the game and shared his thoughts on LeBron James and this moment. LeBron's career is one of someone who planned to dominate this game. He got out of high school, he had the size and the talent to step right into the NBA and he immediately started to have his effect and you know that's gone for almost 20 years now. You know he has that indefinable essence that they call leadership. You know when he gets out there on the court and tries to get things done, guys want to get behind him and see that that happens because they have that much respect for him and his talent.

LeBron needed 36 points, he had 38. The history coming with roughly 10 seconds left in the third quarter and you'll hear the last few baskets as he reaches the summit of this mountain. Producer J has put together some great montages and also the TV call, the thunder radio call too. How neat to be a radio announcer for either team, a TV announcer. My friend Mark Kestisher who works for ESPN radio and is their NBA voice, he also works for CBS Sports Radio. He also got to do the call on the network and he's going to join us tomorrow night. So we've got a bunch lined up for the show but also we want you to hear from LeBron and some of the other reaction in this moment on this Tuesday night, February 7, 2023. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I'd love to hear from you, your reaction.

You can find me on Twitter A Law Radio and also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'll say this, you don't have to be LeBron's biggest fan. You don't have to love who he is, you don't have to root for him but there's no way that you can call yourself that you can call yourself a sports fan and not appreciate this moment.

We may never see it again but even if it does happen it's unlikely to happen in this generation or the next. Again it took 40 years before LeBron was born. Do you all remember for those of you who are around when he was in high school Sports Illustrated did a cover story on him and the headline on the front of the cover was The Chosen One.

I have that somewhere because I collected Sports Illustrated for years and years. So when he was in high school he was labeled The Chosen One. Didn't go to college, made the jump to the NBA when that was still allowed and he has worked steadily toward this moment.

You don't need to be a fan to appreciate being a witness to history. I'll have to go back and Google at game time what the final tickets were going for but I heard that there were floor seats that were being sold and resold for thousands and thousands of dollars and it was right in his wheelhouse. 36 points that's well within LeBron's nightly range or range for a game but if you guessed wrong then you'd pay a ton of money for tonight and maybe miss out but it was apparent by the time they got to halftime and the Lakers were trailing the Lakers were trailing for a good portion of this game they ended up losing by three but they were trailing by double figures against the Thunder for quite a while. The main focus the only focus really was for LeBron but it was kind of funny after he had back-to-back threes to pull within eight points of the record he didn't touch the ball for another three possessions. Now once they got into the late stages of the third quarter and it was apparent it was going to happen that night that game then his teammate started feeding him and setting him up but right after he pulls within single digits on a triple he didn't touch the ball for a couple more possessions.

It's after hours on CBS Portradia. Now he's at the podium so we will hear from a post-game LeBron and then other reaction Anthony Davis his high profile all-star teammate that he's played with there in Los Angeles certainly a little more from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Magic was on the court when he finished his impromptu speech so this is as they stopped the game for about 10 minutes and he's emotional Kareem takes the basketball and he's the basketball hands it to LeBron and LeBron paid a nice tribute to Kareem. I will say it seemed awkward at least initially but who cares it's not about the transition necessarily they don't need to be friends for Kareem to pass the torch he was there that was important and LeBron did ask the audience or ask the fans there inside the arena to give him a round of applause so it's generous of LeBron and so after he says a few words they're trying to get the game restarted because they still have a few seconds left in the third quarter plus the whole fourth quarter to play and so everybody has to get back to their seats they have to clean up the court but even as people are milling around and trying to figure out what do we do next and and how do we get there and how do we get there Magic Johnson greets LeBron on the court and gives him a huge embrace and has a few words for him so yeah pretty amazing I mean think about Darwin Ham's perspective former player himself first-year coach of the Lakers and he gets to be on the sidelines in the arena for this moment. From power memorial all the way up through UCLA and Milwaukee and him getting to the Lakers and him playing with Magic and all the battles with the Pistons and the Celtics all through the 80s you know what Kareem meant to this league he was one of the pillars that built this league that helped build his league and then to see Bron you know his whole trajectory coming into the league he's young straight out of high school and just what he's done to just transcend even basketball like to just he's become a global icon and all of the work he puts in on and off the floor his businesses him speaking out on social issues his leadership like I said he's an example to not just basketball young basketball players but young human beings you know domestically and internationally. So Darwin Ham again just one piece of the reaction that we will hear on tonight's show what did I tell you to start the week the NBA is threatening to hijack Super Bowl week and once again for the third well we'll say the third night of the week but our third show of the week but the second time in three nights the NBA is the lead story and also Lebron's former teammate Kyrie Irving he spoke as well now a member of the Dallas Mavericks he made his first comments and told his side of the story and he feels disrespected why does that not surprise me oh what are you doing at home at home so we've got Lebron the fanfare the buzz the excitement the calls the reaction we've got Kyrie in his own words and we've got two guests on this edition of the show pretty excited a few hours ago just like last year during Super Bowl week we had the chance to catch up with longtime NFL safety Rodney McLeod of course a year can make a major difference in anyone's life and for Rodney he packed a lot of life into one year saw the end of his tenure in Philadelphia a place that he still calls home six seasons playing there he was a Super Bowl champ going back to 2018 but after the Eagles decided not to offer him a contract in free agency he joined the Colts the Colts was there a team that had a more dramatic stranger otter season than the Indianapolis Colts I won't give anything away but I will say this Rodney we knew would be open and candid he's a great talker we found that out last year but he answered all of my questions about the season about Jeff Saturday about what the Colts need in a new head coach new head coach and also something I wasn't expecting to hear his contemplation of his future plus he played with Jalen Hurts for a couple of years in Philly and his thoughts on the Eagles quarterback as well as his reflections on winning a Super Bowl a few years ago you don't want to miss this conversation it's a home run Rodney's awesome and then also from Phoenix so Rodney is in Philadelphia my friend Jason Romano he's in Phoenix working radio row this week a long time colleague of mine at my previous network actually our previous network we're obviously neither one of us there anymore he's the media director for sports spectrum and he's milling around opening night actually caught up with the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jason has a focus for his company and for his podcast that brings together football with family and faith so these athletes are never one-dimensional they're not just about their sport and even tonight we see that with LeBron he's not just basketball he's got a mom he's got a stepfather he's got three kids he's got a wife faith family football is where Jason and the sports spectrum intersect so kind of a different slant a different perspective on sports so we are going to jam a ton into this show I'm not sure how we'll do it but this is this is the this is the plight this is the challenge this is the struggle to be a sports talk radio host by the way we are about to release the latest edition of our super six video series now here's the deal we've got one on youtube for those of you who didn't find it or were slow on the uptake our second edition our second video we put on facebook tonight's video we're putting on twitter so we're forcing you guys to to be creative to use your fingers to google to search but you know i tell you our twitter address all the time after hours cbs facebook is easy youtube is easy so by the time we get through the show we'll be halfway through our super six video series in honor of super bowl week and you will be able to find each of our sites for a unique and creative video there's a cameo in this one by the way former nfl mvp part of our video we've got so much to do stop talking amy it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio you are listening to the after hours podcast here is lebron dribbling around a pick from thomas bryant left-hand layup good and a foul and lebron shaking his head at the crowd like they can't stop me lebron for three got it he's 11 points away lebron pulls up for three gone the crowd all on its feet that comes okc the other way here comes giddy throws it off lebron's foot picked up by westbrook here come the lakers four on two lebron down the middle to the rim and in six points away lebron has 30 westbrook's got it westbrook to lebron put it up and in four points away rebound loose who's got it anthony david saves it troy brown ahead to lonnie walker to lebron he's two points away lebron is two points away timeout oklahoma city this is after hours with amy lawrence it's after hours with amy lawrence on a night when lebron james ascends to the top of the nba's all-time scoring list he summits a mighty mountain that many believed would never be summited again this was 40 years in the making kareem odual jabbar set the former record before lebron was on the earth before he was born that's how long this record has stood and as i'm looking at the list of the nba's all-time leading scorers it's lebron it's kareem carl malone coby bryant michael jordan that's your top five dirk novitsky retired wilt obviously not playing anymore shakil o'neill carmelo anthony is in the top 10. he doesn't play at this moment though he's not officially retired but he is more than 10 000 points behind lebron james so i guess we could say he's active but he's an active free agent right now the closest active player to lebron james who's also on a roster a little awkward to say kevin durant is in fact still playing basketball he has 26 684 points lebron 38 390 points so we're talking about just shy of 12 000 points that separate the two again he's the only current player on a roster in the top 15 and he's roughly 12 000 points behind lebron james who's not done playing you keep going you keep going the next active player is james hardin in 27th place where is steph curry he's missed a bunch of time obviously with injuries which is part of the reason why he's not a candidate to break the record but you've got james hardin in 27th he's barely over 24 000 points but if you think about the fact and and by the way russell westbrook is in 28th so lebron's current lakers teammate if you think about 40 years though lebron wasn't born when kareem last set the record so is it possible that the next record holder if we ever see this again isn't even a thought now not born hasn't picked up a basketball doesn't know who lebron is it could happen it's just unlikely however the more that pro sports facilitate offense and open up space and tilt the court the field the ice it's happening in every sport in favor of the offense i guess it's more likely than it would have been say 40 years ago to see this record get eclipsed steph curry by the way is barely over 21 000 points i say that like it's no big thing it's important it's huge but he's barely in the top 40 and again that's because of the time that he's missed even at 33 years old he's missed good chunks and in some cases nearly entire seasons it's after hours on cbs sports radio you can find me on twitter a law radio also on our facebook page a little bit from lebron once he had showered and was able to to breathe a little bit he's told us previously that he was exhausted finally the moment is here and i can imagine he's still processing you know i had a moment there but i don't think it's really hit me on what would just transpired um as much as i tried to live in the moment it was kind of a blur um you know but you know looking back there and seeing my seeing my guys back there and being you know out there on the floor with my kids and my wife my mom you know um you know it's a really cool feeling lebron had 20 points in the first half and then you could really feel feel it inside the arena and even as he started out hot in the third quarter it was a steady march so with 10 seconds to go in the third couple of dribbles at the free throw line a half turn bit of a step and a fade from the elbow you're going to see that highlight over and over and over again now he says he's not done it seems like 40,000 is well within his reach if he stays healthy and continues to play wants to play with his son brawny that's what he's indicated is his goal that he's not retiring as long as he's healthy he's not retiring until he gets a chance to play with his son it's neat to see him and a lot of these great athletes in a different light where families are around where there's emotion we're kind of seeing that a little bit with tom brady who is obviously done with his football career so he says uh but the human side to these athletes and there are times when lebron looks and feels a lot like a machine so it's fun to see his kids his little daughter she's really cute and obviously you think about 38 years in the making it's been more than just basketball for him this has been a labor of love and it's taken all the people around him not just his coaches his teammates the training staff his own personal coaches and athletic trainer and then his family and the people who support him his wife who takes care of the kids i mean there's a a lot that goes into it and again we don't often see that side of the best athletes in the world basketball has given me a lot um that's taken me all over the world has inspired a lot of people but you know for me um you know being a father or something even you know way more uh dynamic way more driven um than than the game i want to congratulate lebron james on becoming the nba all-time leading scorer what a feat i never thought that kareem's scoring record would be broken by anybody but uh that says how special you are man and what you've done for the game of basketball worldwide you've changed the game of basketball and i from the bottom of my heart just want to say thank you but also it means even more to to myself and to all fans because you're wearing that purple and gold and brokered as a laker so congratulations yeah that's also i don't want to say we couldn't see it coming or lebron never considered it because that's probably not true he's very calculated and maybe believed that once he got to the point in his career where he was mid 30s or even early 30s as he was going through free agency again or deciding where he wanted to play again decision one two three something along those lines that he very well could have thought i could break this record in a lakers uniform if i continue to play at a high level and if i stay healthy and we knew he wanted to be in la because of business opportunities and because of the iconic franchise that is the lakers you win a title with the lakers and it's something different it's like winning a super bowl with the cowboys though we haven't seen anything like that for quite a while but he did win a title in 2020 a different kind of a title in the bubble it isn't ready to go away but i don't know as you hear with magic johnson mentioning the purple and gold of the lakers i don't know that this wasn't ultimately part of his plan maybe going back to his last run through free agency so we'll hear more from kareem as well as lebron himself and the various perspectives from the radio and tv calls put a post up on twitter and facebook love to hear from you uh i i understand lebron's controversial but on this night that part doesn't matter so if you feel the need to call him names or use inappropriate language on my facebook page you're gonna get deleted i'm not sure why you would bother for heaven's sakes people people can't ever take a break social media never takes a break all right so go and and you can check out our twitter after hours cbs or our facebook page if you can mind your manners uh you can also give us a call eight five five two one two four two two seven there's a lot more to come rodney mccloud now of the indianapolis cults at the top of the hour we still have to hear from kyrie irving who told his side of the story with the dallas mavericks today erin rogers has got another odd plan odd plan just he's just odd i'm offended i i think i might be too actually by you it's after hours on cbs sports radio you are listening to the after hours podcast looking for james he's got it it's coming to the end of the third quarter lebron james a shot at history the nba's all-time scoring record now belongs to lebron james for nearly 40 years which kareem many people thought would never be broken many people thought would never be broken lebron you are the nba's all-time scoring leader this is after hours with amy lawrence lebron james took the ball from kareem after kareem took the ball from adam silver that was on court broadcast on tnt as the game between the thunder and the lakers was stopped for roughly 10 minutes late in the third quarter kind of strange to think about playing basketball after that right because it was such an emotional moment and so much build up to it that the game became an afterthought now when lebron took the ball from kareem uh he took a second took a breath and then asked the crowd to pay tribute to the captain as kareem is called and to give him another standing ovation and uh just to to i guess to acknowledge not only what kareem has meant to the nba and we know that lebron is a student of history but also the fact that his record stood for 40 years and then lebron went into his thank yous to his family uh and and just really the emotional relief and release you could hear it as he was addressing the lakers fans and i dare say people who are not necessarily lakers fans but just wanted to be a part of history it's after hours with amy lawrence brian anderson's call on tnt and then after the game lebron was interviewed not just in the press conference that would be typical but also with the guys on tnt and when did he actually realize that this was a possibility for me um i never said i'm gonna go for it i think once i saw the number get closer and closer and i just you know been available on the floor and i've been able to still be productive over the last couple years i was like wow oh i'm two thousand points away or i'm three thousand points away i'm four thousand points away and i feel great um i said okay well it's possible you know especially the way kareem played the game and how long he played the game just didn't think nobody would have that type of longevity um to to come out on the floor and play at that level for so long so um it's just a complete honor to be a part of this league be a part of some of the greats that ever played this game and for me to be right there at the um you know at the apex with them he is 38 years old just turned 38 a couple months ago or month and a half ago his birthday actually is the same as tiger woods late in december appears to be in great shape for the most part he misses games here or there because of injuries or because every one of these guys has aches and pains but he's remained healthy and durable for the most part when you get older it takes you a little longer to recover from injuries so there is that factor but he wasn't even born when kareem set this record likely if we see it ever eclipsed and he's not done i mean he's going to push this record even farther probably over 40 000 points which would make him the only player in nba history ever to go over 40 000 points i mean now we're talking about tom brady records right every time he steps on the court there's something new there's an addition to a record that he already owns and so when you think about the fact that he wasn't even born he's played 20 seasons he's still fairly durable maybe it overshadows that he is still playing what is not as physical a game as it used to be but he plays the game very physically and takes a lot of contact even into his late 30s my wife and my boys asked me you know do i ever surprise myself on the floor still at this point in my career and and i thought about i was like yeah sometimes they know to be able to play at this level you know 20 years in and the minutes i've played the games i've played either through the regular season or through the postseason you know to still be at the apex of my game it's a it's a pretty surreal feeling it's been great um it's been a a big part of our team success a big part of my success um you know leader you know in all kind of ways all kind of facets of the game on and off the floor um you know great human being family guy check all the boxes you know definitely well deserved you know he put a lot of blood sort of tears into this game so i'm just honored honored to be able to you know witness it live anthony davis getting to play alongside lebron james the last several years though they've been like ships passing in the night every now and then where davis has been injured and then lebron's been injured and then ad's been off the court but they do have the one title now davis only had 13 points tonight the thunder never trailed in the second half they ended up winning the game but honestly the game became an afterthought and darvin ham uh true to his coaching genes felt like it was good to get this whole thing behind them for the sake of their record and their season 66 points is a lot of points to score and a half but yet and still we gave up 76 so our defense you know had its lows early um and late you know our offense i think got stagnant and you know the guys they want to see brian do what he did tonight you know and a lot of times i think the attention was more about the focus was more about trying to get brian to the record as opposed to just playing natural basketball yeah that makes sense to me think about some of the guys he's playing with they're in their early 20s not quite half his age but going back to the tom brady analogy in the comparison how many times do we hear guys who are early in their careers who either play with brady on the bucks or with the patriots or are playing against him quarterbacks who modeled their careers and wanted to be tom brady i mean it's just this strange phenomena when you play as long as those two guys have and so yes i can imagine they wanted to see it happen and that was clearly the focus not to mention this wasn't your typical nba february crowd i mean it's la which is part of the equation but we all knew that it was going to happen this week so the ticket requests and the money that's being shelled out to get into the arena the celebrities that are lining the court if you're a new laker a young laker ryu hachi mora maybe that can be dazzling you can still get the deer in the headlights look no matter what level you played at in college this is a different animal it's a different stratosphere so congratulations to lebron i honestly wasn't confident we would ever see this record fall i don't remember it but april 1984 so it's nearly 40 years in the making lebron wasn't even born then but now he scored more points than any player who's ever put on a uniform and we get to see it we got to see it we've witnessed it the build up to this point and he's not done i said the same thing about tom brady last week you don't have to be a fan of either guy you don't have to root for the teams that they played for in fact you can dislike them if you want i feel like that's our irrational prerogative as sports fans we dislike people we don't even know and that's fine but if you can take your emotion out of it and you can look at it objectively i don't think there's any way you can't be grateful that we saw lebron james 20 years the all-new scoring king in the nba tom brady and what he accomplished as the greatest quarterback of all time it's kind of cool that they both have these incredible moments within a week of each other it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio tess here i've always had problems sleeping and once i fall asleep i couldn't stay asleep i searched getting to sleep asap so check this out sleep asap is a real product by nutra strips it's not a pill or drug it's this amazing little thin strip you put right on your tongue and it activates immediately tastes great too best night's sleep ever go to my sleep asap.com and discover how you can try a full month's supply free that's my sleep asap.com tess here i've always had problems sleeping and once i fall asleep i couldn't stay asleep i searched getting to sleep asap so check this out sleep asap is a real product by nutra strips it's not a pill or drug it's this amazing little thin strip you put right on your tongue and it activates immediately tastes great too best night's sleep ever go to my sleep asap.com and discover how you can try a full month's supply free that's my sleep asap.com tess here i've always had problems sleeping and once i fall asleep i couldn't stay asleep i searched getting to sleep asap so check this out sleep asap is a real product by nutra strips it's not a pill or drug it's this amazing little thin strip you put right on your tongue and it activates immediately tastes great too best night's sleep ever go to my sleep asap.com and discover how you can try a full month's supply free that's my sleep asap.com