LeBron gets Cavaliers back on track with 57-point performance

The Washington Wizards poked the bear known as LeBron James, and that bear mauled them on their home floor.

James had his way with the Wizards on Friday night at Capital One Arena, scoring a league-high 57 points on a stellar 23-of-34 shooting in 42 minutes of action as the Cleveland Cavaliers ended their four-game losing streak with a 130-122 victory.

He also grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out seven assists, stole the ball three times, and blocked two shots. The only other time a player has posted a 57-11-7 line since 1984 came last season when Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook had 57-13-11 against the Orlando Magic in March.

Friday marked the 11th time in James' storied career that he's dropped 50 or more points in a game, tying Allen Iverson for the sixth-most in NBA history.

His 57 points also ties Kyrie Irving's franchise record, which he set against the San Antonio Spurs back in 2015. It's four points shy of James' career high of 61 from March 3, 2014 against the Charlotte Bobcats.

James reached several career milestones en route to his 57 points. He's now only the second player to score 10 or more points in 800 consecutive games, joining Michael Jordan. James' 23 made shots pushed him past both Kevin Garnett and John Havlicek for 11th on the all-time field goals list, and he's now the youngest player to score 29,000 career points.

Wizards guard Bradley Beal had said earlier to ESPN's Rachel Nichols and Paul Pierce that he feels his squad is the best the Eastern Conference has to offer. John Wall then added that he believes the Cavaliers purposefully avoided getting the No. 1 seed in 2016-17 to prevent an early matchup in the playoffs with Washington.

Based off of his performance, it's safe to assume James was aware of what the Wizards backcourt had to say prior to the opening tip, and probably enjoyed making the duo eat their words afterwards.