KEVIN LOVE piled up 34 points as LeBron James reached another statistical milestone in the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-103 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday.

    James joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to rank in the top 25 for both scoring and assists after helping Love to a three-pointer with five minutes left in the second quarter.

    The assist pushed James’ career total to 6,837, nudging him ahead of Norm Nixon into 25th place. James is also 19th on the all-time points scoring list and is expected to pass Reggie Miller in 18th place when the Cavs visit Toronto today.

    “He’s a guy who laid the foundation,” James said of Robertson, “and I’m just trying to carry it on.”

    James fittingly distributed praise to those who helped him reach the milestone.

    “I give all the credit to the two great franchises I’ve been a part of and the players and the teammates and the coaching staffs that I’ve played for so far that have allowed me to go out and do the things I’ve done in my career,” he said. “So none of that would be possible without them.”

    Love scored 27 in the first half — 17 in a row in one stretch for the Cavs, who made 18 3-pointers and improved to 8-0 at home.

    Andrew Nicholson scored 18 and Evan Fournier had 13 points for the Magic. Orlando has dropped 11 straight to Cleveland.

    James came in needing 21 points to surpass Reggie Miller (25,279) for 18th place on the career scoring list. While he didn’t quite catch Miller, he moved into the company of Robertson, a do-it-all guard who is sometimes overlooked when some fans debate the game’s top players.

    “If you are a true basketball fan and you know the history of the game, there is no way he can ever be lost,” James said. “In our league too much is trying to compare greats to greats instead of just accepting and acknowledging and saying, ‘Wow, these are just great players.”’

    Cavs coach David Blatt was not aware James matched Robertson until after the game.

    “That gives me chills to even hear that,” Blatt said. “That’s an amazing, amazing accomplishment.”

    J.R. Smith scored a season-high 26 and Matthew Dellavedova, starting in place of injured Mo Williams and playing with a sore leg, added 15 for Cleveland.

    James passed Nixon with five minutes left in the second quarter, when he drove the lane and flicked a pass into the right corner to Love, who knocked down one of his six 3-pointers.

    It was Love, with some help from James, who brought Cleveland back with a one-man scoring spree in the second quarter.

    With the Cavs down 42-34 after squandering a 12-point lead, Love made three 3-pointers and scored 17 straight points over a 5:20 span. He capped his outburst with a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left — off another dish by James — to give the Cavs a 59-55 halftime lead.

    The Cavs came out firing in the third, making three early 3-pointers to push their lead to double digits and pull away from the Magic, outscored 33-20 in the third.(SD-Agencies)