LeBron James: Two playoff anniversaries bookmarks era as No. 1 player

LeBron James does everything but remind J.R. Smith to stay focused

At this time, Kevin Durant had put in his bid as the best player in the NBA. After dropping a 3-point shot in LeBron’s face the year prior, the debates started heating up.

The only thing that was holding Durant’s claim was one, he left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join a 73 -9 Warriors team and two, this Cavaliers team had no Kyrie Irving and LeBron James willed the team back to the Finals.

First, the Cavaliers got past the Indiana Pacers in seven games, which many thought the Pacers should have won. Then LeBron James got white-hot against the Toronto Raptors in a sweep that got Dwane Casey fired as head coach and DeMar DeRozan traded for Kawhi Leonard.

Yes, Lakers fans, the Raptors may have LeBron to thank because if the Cavs hadn’t dominated Toronto the way they did, maybe the moves wouldn’t have been made and they wouldn’t be in the Finals.

Finally, after six games of competition, LeBron James willed the Cavaliers past the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in the last six minutes of pivotal Game 7.

After Game 1 of last year’s Finals, Kevin Durant had some more work to do to catch James if he wanted to stake his claim.

Kevin Durant was criticized in this game for his subpar (for him) performance, scoring 26 points with nine rebounds and six assists. He only shot 8-of-22 from the field in the game. He might have not have gotten criticized if it wasn’t being compared to LeBron James’ explosion.

Like he did years prior against Detroit, LeBron James destroyed the Golden State Warriors going for 51 points. The only difference was that he didn’t wait until the last six minutes of the game to explode. He gave the Warriors the business from the opening tip.

The Warriors did not double and paid for it all night long. Along with his scoring explosion, he found time to grab eight rebounds and dish out eight assists.

Like the Pistons, the Warriors could not stop LeBron on this night. However, a couple of things happened that kept LeBron from getting his team out with a win.

First, there was that offensive foul call that was overturned that LeBron James drew on Durant. Then with 4.7 seconds left in regulation, well George Hill missed a free throw, J.R. Smith got the rebound and then…

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1134448297668689920

Anybody care to know what J.R. Smith was thinking?

"“I just thought we were going to call a timeout. Because I got the rebound, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t shoot it over KD,” Smith said of Kevin Durant. “If I thought we were ahead, I would have just held on to the ball so they could foul me. Clearly that wasn’t the case.”"

Well, the game went into overtime, the Warriors eventually pulled the game out 124-114 and the series basically ended that night. The Warriors went on to sweep the Cavaliers 4-0 and Durant recovered from Game 1 to get his second NBA Finals MVP. It was rumored that LeBron James injured his hand punching a chalkboard after the game.

After the series ended, he signed with the Lakers.

Is this the end of an era? Who knows? It does seem that the media has moved on with the debate between Durant and Leonard.

If KD returns during the Finals, those discussions will increase. But if it is the end for LeBron James being at the top of the NBA world, it ended on the same day it began.