LeBron James’ legacy as the greatest player in his era was cemented and bookended by two memorable anniversaries.
The NBA world is still getting used to the fact that LeBron James will not be suiting up in the NBA Finals after eight straight years of competing. The Lakers collapse that kept him from being in the playoffs was enough of a seismic effect that ratings have been down throughout the playoffs.
The era of the NBA is changing rapidly with Zion Williamson coming in and the Warriors finally being vulnerable with the possibility of Kevin Durant leaving Golden State. This was an era that was dominated by King James for well over a decade. The funny thing is, it might have started and ended on exactly the same day…May 31st.
Friday, May 31st marked the anniversary of two of the greatest displays that LeBron James put on in his storied NBA career. Back in 2007, against the heavily favored Detroit Pistons, LeBron James scored 25 straight points and 29 of the Cleveland Cavaliers last 30 points to outlast the Pistons in a double overtime win. In my opinion, that was the night that LeBron James took over as the best player in the game.
May 31st also marked the anniversary of the J.R. Smith “incident” last year in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. LeBron James was just as dominant but he could not overcome the odds as he did back in 2007. In my opinion, that was the night that he lost the title of being the best player in the game.
The only difference from the start to the finish was in 2007, the world knew that LeBron was the best player in the world at the time. Last year, not many noticed that his time at the top of the mountain was over.
Now, this article is not to start the G.O.A.T. debate all over again. That has been covered by Lake Show Life and is not up for discussion. Also, it’s not about a comparison to Kobe Bryant and his accomplishments. It just shows that May 31st is coincidentally where the LeBron James era began and ended as the “best player” in the world.
There will be a debate of LeBron James’ spot on the all-time list, but there is no debating that these two games were easily one of the most dominant games not only of James’ playoff career but in his 16 years playing in the NBA. These two games bookmarked the LeBron James era in the NBA.
The 2019 NBA Finals features two players in the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard and possibly Golden State’s Kevin Durant, who both are considered contenders for the title. Possibly, the winner of the Raptors/Warriors Finals will determine who will take the unofficial title of the best player in the world.
Since there is no LeBron James playing presently in the playoffs or NBA Finals, let’s take a look back at the bookmarks of one of the most celebrated runs in NBA history.
LeBron James overcomes the Pistons, questions if he can lead a championship team
Before the Golden State Warriors was the famous nemesis of LeBron James, the Detroit Pistons were the gatekeepers to James thinking about championship rings. Back in 2006, LeBron had his first taste of playoff action in his career. He led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference semifinals before falling to Detroit in seven games.
After losing the first two games of that series, the Cavaliers had the Pistons on the ropes winning three straight. After fans started thinking about an upset, the Pistons won the last two games and won the series.
In 2007, the Cavs and the Pistons had a playoff rematch. The two teams had the best records in the Eastern Conference and met in the Eastern Conference Finals for higher stakes. At least for the first two games, the Pistons played like it.
Detroit won the first two games of the series while LeBron was struggling mightily. Let’s keep it real, he was terrible.
In Game 1, he only scored 10 points and in Game 2, late-game mistakes cost his team a chance at winning. By this time, the voices of a LeBron James choke job was getting louder and louder. After the Cavaliers righted the ship and evened the series, Game 5 happened.
Not the entire game but the last six minutes of the 4th quarter and two overtimes happened.
On this day in 2007, LeBron took matters into his own hands in Game 5 of ECF
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 31, 2019
■ Scored the last 25 points for Cleveland
■ 48 points and the go-ahead basket in double OT
■ Would lead Cavs to first Finals appearance at 22 years oldpic.twitter.com/7W07yXsyAA
With six minutes left in the final frame with the Cavaliers up 79-78, LeBron James had only 19 points, which was below his season average. From that moment on, he proceeded to destroy every Piston defender that was put in front of him.
Richard Hamilton was discarded, Jason Maxiell got the business, Tayshaun Prince was ducking, looking for help and Ben Wallace was served up a facial. On this night, one of the top defenses in the NBA could do nothing to stop this dude.
Don’t believe me? Let’s get the up close and personal take from Chauncey Billups, who got some of the juice, too.
https://twitter.com/uninterrupted/status/1134527345446932487
The man scored 29 of the last 30 points of the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers, on the road in a playoff game. It’s a very rare occurrence that I see something that left me speechless but this night was one of them.
The only other player that scored was Drew Gooden with a free throw. He finished with 25 straight on an absurd 11-of-13 shooting. Oh by the way, he hit the game winner in double overtime, too, in a 109-107 marathon.
The one thing that I remembered that night was the Inside the NBA crew spent almost an hour barking at each other over what the Detroit Pistons should have done to stop LeBron that night. Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were screaming so loud, I know Ernie Johnson was shocked.
Not as much as the fans in the Palace that night.
LeBron James ended the night with 48 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers rode that momentum and won the next game to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs were waiting and dismissed LeBron’s squad with a clean sweep.
After the series, Tim Duncan met with LeBron and told him that the league would be his in a little while. It was already his, the performance in Detroit cemented that fact.
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.