PHOENIX -- Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James passed Alex English for 17th on the NBA's all-time leading scoring list during Cleveland's 101-97 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

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James came into the night needing five points to pass English's career total of 25,613 points. James passed the former Denver Nuggets star with a free throw that was part of an and-one layup with 3:14 remaining in the first quarter. He ended the night with 14 points.

"Just an extremely efficient and fundamental and smooth player, whose competitiveness, I think, was underestimated because he did everything sort of in a silent and in a classy way, with not a whole lot of fanfare and a whole lot of noise," Cavs coach David Blatt said of English, one of the lesser-known players among the league's top 25 all-time scorers.

"But he was a competitor and a guy who was so consistent in the things that he did, just night after night after night," Blatt said. "He had his game, and he was able to play that game seemingly forever because he was simply so good at doing the things that he did and didn't stray from that. Fabulous, fabulous basketball player."

The next three players ahead of James on the all-time scoring list, Kevin Garnett (16th), Paul Pierce (15th) and Tim Duncan (14th), are all active. John Havlicek is 13th, with 26,395 points.

James also climbed up the record books in all-time assists Monday, when he eclipsed Stephon Marbury (6,471 assists) for 22nd in NBA history by finding Tristan Thompson for a bucket with 10:07 remaining in the third quarter. James came into the night needing six assists to pass Marbury. He finished the game with seven.

"The fact that it resulted in a win is all that matters," James said of the accomplishments.