Looking at LeBron James' performance in elimination games
Despite having two NBA Championship rings and a pair of NBA Finals MVP awards to go with them, there are still those who question the big-game mettle of LeBron James.
It's understandable, we suppose, since dominance is the expectation with James and anything short of that sticks out in our memory.
His Game 5 performance against the Boston Celtics in 2010, his final outing as a Cleveland Cavalier, is what his detractors point to as proof he lacks the fortitude, ignoring how he went out guns a-blazing against them in 2008, or how he avenged that game with Miami in 2012.
In 2007, just his second year in the playoffs, he wilted facing a sweep against the San Antonio Spurs. Forget about his dominant Game 7 performance last season; you lose that retribution cache when you following it up by sitting due to cramps in Game 1 or failing to seize a must-win moment in Game 4.
Right? Well, no, not really. While the counterexamples may stand out, James has, throughout his career, performed well with his back against the wall.
Consider his statistics in the regular season, all playoff games and in the 13 elimination games he's played in, keeping in mind that the difficulty is ratcheted up for postseason play:
| Career | Season | Playoffs | Elimination |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPG | 27.5 | 27.9 | 31.9 |
| RPG | 7.2 | 8.4 | 10.2 |
| APG | 6.9 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| BPG | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
| SPG | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| TOPG | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| FG% | 49.7% | 48.2% | 46.5% |
| TS% | 58.1% | 57.8% | 56.4% |
In those 13 elimination games, James' efficiency has declined slightly but his volume has increased, showing that he really has put his teams on his back and carried the load. His teams are 7-6 in those games, but he's also won five consecutive elimination games, including two straight against the Spurs in last year's finals.
Here is a look at some of James' best elimination game performances:
2008 - Second Round, Game 7, Boston 97, Cleveland 92
While James and the Cavaliers ultimately came up short in this one, failing to move on to the Eastern Conference finals where the Detroit Pistons awaited, it wasn't for lack of effort on the part of James.
He gave the eventual champions all they could handle, turning in a 45-point, five-rebound, six-assist performance while posting a 60.2 true shooting percentage and only turning the ball over twice. And here is perhaps the most telling statistic: in the 46:48 that James played in this game, the Celtics and Cavs played to a draw; Boston outscored Cleveland by five points in the 1:12 he sat.
Unfortunately, Paul Pierce scored 41 points of his own, James' teammates shot just 16-of-38, and James missed a three with six seconds left that could have cut the lead to two.
2009 - Eastern Conference Finals, Game 5, Cleveland 112, Orlando 102
Down 3-1 and facing the possibility of a second consecutive season without a trip to the finals, the Cavs found themselves down a point entering the fourth quarter.
Enter James, who scored 17 of his 37 points in the final frame, grabbing four of his 14 rebounds and dishing four of his 12 assists. Yes, a 37-14-12 triple-double, something that has been done exactly zero other times in the history of the playoffs and just twice in regular season history.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, 3-1 proved too big a deficit and the Cavs fell in Game 6, with James scoring 25 points with seven rebounds and seven assists.
2012 - Eastern Conference Finals, Game 6, Miami 98, Boston 79
James had already technically avenged his prior losses to the Celtics in 2011 when the Heat knocked off the Celtics in the second round, but Boston had unexpectedly taken a 3-2 series lead, winning three consecutive games after Miami went up 2-0.
In Game 6, James put an end to that momentum, shooting a ridiculous 19-of-26 from the floor and scoring 45 points on 75.1 percent true shooting, adding 15 rebounds and five assists for good measure.
Players have managed 45 points on 26 or fewer shots in the playoffs just 20 times since 1985 and four of those outings belong to James. Nobody else has ever managed a 45-15-5 in the playoffs, however. It was something else, and he followed it up with a 31-and-12 in a Game 7 victory.
2013 - NBA Finals, Game 7, Miami 95, San Antonio 88
And for those suggesting James can't do this against the Spurs, well, how soon you forget. After turning in 32 points and 11 rebounds in the historic Game 6 victory to extend the series, James dropped 37 - with 12 rebounds and four assists - on 12-of-23 shooting in Game 7 last year, earning his second NBA title.