I am one of those Lebron fans that have accepted that this generation of NBA "Fans" will never appreciate this guy for how great of a Player he is. This generation has been poisoned by social media to hate Lebron because it makes you look "cool". I just hope that future generations 20 years from now will look at this videos and wish they had the chance to watch him live.
I was 10 years old in 4th grade when LeBron did this. Im a lifelong Kobe fan. when Lebron scored 29 of the last 30 for Cleveland basically upsetting the Detroit Pistons alone was just the beginning of LeBrons greatness. LeBron and Kobe r deeply hated by opposing fans because they will embarrass the opposing team on any given night
I was too young to witnesses MJ in his prime, but this is personally the greatest individual performance i've ever witnessed. As a kid i was just blown away at what i was watching. This was the beginning of the end of that mid/late 00's Pistons squad & the strangle hold they had on the Eastern conference.
kharris20413 If I would've saw Kobe 81 live point for point, it would probably be the greatest I've ever witnessed. Not to take anything away from it, but I watched this entire game & saw Lebron literally defeat the Pistons by himself in a pivotal playoff game.
***** Jordan lost in the semi finals against boston that year at 23, lebron at 22 single handedly beat detroit in the semi finals AND went to the finals.
Jordan had 63...against real defense not this soft shit. look at how many of those dunks feature pistons players moving out of the way to avoid a foul. back in the 80s lebron ass was hitting the floor hard on every one of those attempts. and it wouldn't be considered a flagrant foul
+Bennbo Simo no one got in front of Charles Barkley or Karl Malone when they did that in the 80s. can you imagine LeBron who is twice their size playing then .Lol it's really laughable
"One of the greatest performances of all time"? It is the greatest take-over performances of ALL TIME. LeBron James is making everybody feel sorry and making them feel so SALTY like the one on 3:03. LeBron is a hell of a player and Most likely will go down as the GOAT one day. P.S. for all those haters saying LeBron passes too much instead of taking shots like game-winners(or tying) in the clutch, YOU'RE WRONG. The 2016 playoffs can tell you how clutch he really is.
Jordan Egbuna LeBron James was indeed clutch. He got a couple of triple doubles in that series. You know you're one of the greatest when you can find it in you to get your teammates involved AND STILL take over a game when necessary. That's WHY the Cleveland Cavaliers won the championship.
Jordan was my favorite, too, but when I had the privilege to see this game live on TV, I was blown away! This is one of the most unreal things I've ever witnessed in a major sporting moment.
The best Jordan performances were in the Finals: 13 consecutive FGs vs Magic in Game 2, 35 points (6 treys) in a half vs Drexler in Game 1, 55 points vs Barkley in Game 4, The Flu Game vs Malone & Stockton, etc... When the commentators say that this is "Jordan-esque", they mean that it's just a sample of what MJ tended to do many times in the playoffs.
***** "Jordan-esque" doesn't translate to "how both Jordan and LeBron took over games". It just refers to Jordan taking over games. He did it so many times that it spawned that term.
***** Jordan and LeBron aren't the only players who took over games in NBA history. But there are no such terms as "West-esque", "Bird-esque", "Magic-esque", etc... Same if LeBron came first. Besides, this is about what the commentators meant. Not what you meant.
***** In the last 15 years, I can only think of Kobe 81 and AI Game 1 of 2001 NBA Finals on the pro level. And this was in a Conf Finals series leading to the Finals. Lebron scored 25 consecutive points. Only Wilt Chamberlain can top that. I'm pretty sure this game will go down in history as one of the top 5 individual playoff performances
AJ Davis what about shaq's game 2 in that 2001 finals when he nearly had a quadruple double or when kobe had 62 in 3 quarters and outscored the mavs by one at the end of the third? oh and there is shaq's 61 and 21rebs on his birthday albeit against the clippers!
Joshua Han The regular season games are a step lower than postseason. I only said Kobe 81 because it's the most points we will probably see an NBA player score in a game in our lifetimes. That's pretty special. And Shaq's domination was pretty much expected at that time. Post season performances at the top of my list: This game, Tim Duncan near quadruple double vs Cavs, AI 2001 vs Lakers, MJ Last Game as a Bull short list. But Lebron 48 Special takes the cake. If you were watching that game, you literally watched a legend being born. We were WITNESSES lol. Dude scored 29 of his teams last 30 points! Just keep re reading that sentence.
He's facing a Pistons team w/o Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace was past his prime. Lebron is overrated and benefits from playing in a Inferior Conference
Tom Manning Where was the killer instinct in the 2007 Finals when it mattered most? He killed his team with 35% FG and 6 turnovers a game By the way, 2007 Cavs were 3-1 without LeBron, and had a top 5 defense They locked down Ginobli to 0 pts on 0/7 FG in Game 3 LeBron missed game tying 3 They locked down Duncan to 4/15 FG in Game 4, LeBron 6 turnovers, 10/30 (33% FG) and 2-6 FT as the Cavs lost by 1 point LeBron in 2007 beat two teams without a winning record (Nets and injured Wiz with no Arenas/Butler) and Pistons without HoF Coach Larry Brown (always made the Finals under Brown) and without 4x DPOY Ben Wallace Hakeem in 1994 had 0 HoF, 0 all stars, and Tomjanovich as his coach (not HoF) The worst team Hakeem beat in 94 was the 47-35 Blazers with HoF Drexler The best team LeBron beat in 07 was 53-29 Pistons with no HoF coach Larry Brown, and no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace Hakeem beat real competition like Barkley/KJ, Stock/Malone, and Ewing/Oak/Mason and he actually played defense, when he shut down Ewing in all but one game of the Finals, and the saving block on Starks in Game 6 LeBron was destroyed by Tony Parker in the 07 Finals when he tried to guard him Hakeem = led his team in ALL 5 categories for the 1994 playoffs Hakeem = all of his teammates in 1994 scored less in the Finals than Wade/Bosh in 2014 Finals, his top 3 scorers shooting 32%, 37%, and 42% FG Still carried them to the win, unlike LeBron in 2007, 2011, or 2014 No need to bring up 2012 and 2013, because thats when LeBron had help LeBron has never carried a team to the title when they struggled in the Finals, unlike MJ scoring/asssitng 50% of his team points in 97 unlike Magic winning Finals MVP without Kareem in 1980 Game 6 unlike D-Wade carrying his team in 06 with Shaq averaging 14-10 in the Finals (Gooden 13-8 in 2007) and all his teammates scoring less than Wade/Bosh in 2014 Finals, number 1 scorer was 39% FG Antoine Walker unlike Hakeem leading his team in all 5 categories for 4 playoff rounds, shutting down Ewing, with his top scorers shooting crappy 32%, 37%, 42% FG
Hoyum Toy LeBron - only franchise player in his prime to get outscored by a bench player in the Finals (2011) LeBron - only franchise player in his prime to get outplayed by a role player 3 straight games in the Finals (Games 3-4-5 of 2014 by Kahwi Leonard) Check the footage if you don't believe me "LeBron's Overrated Defense Exposed - 2014 NBA Finals" "Kahwi Leonard locks down LeBron - 2014 NBA Finals Game 5" checkmate not top 10 - deal with it
Lebron Not Top10 All-time. Poor little basketball fan, can't handle proven facts, At this point in his career LeBeron has completely solidified his place in the top 5, it's funny how you keep dissing Leonard that enough discredits your comments when he is a is a stone-cold stud.
I remember watching this live when I was about 11 years old , I thought for sure he was going to go down as the greatest player ever , he still very well could but for a 22 year old to do this was just insane against a Pistons team that was great defensively aswell
He might not have the greatest career, but from a reliable eye test, one would be hard pressed to find someone with more talent for the game than Lebron James.
+NBA Myths exactly that's what I'm saying. His worst years are in the finals. Kobes worst years aren't in the finals. I think if lebron wins 3 more titles he surpasses mike.
check the scores and the time.. they needed every bucket he literally won the game.. 22 years old against chauncey billups and the pistons.. just respect it, all i ask
For all those people still comparing Kobe and Lebron, If you were to remove Kobe and Lebron from their respective teams during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, where the Lakers won, the lakers would still be a playoff team while the Cavs would have been garbage. Lebron was that team and this video proves it. He is better then Kobe in every statistical category. Kobe went 6-24 in game 7 vs celtics and they still won, so his team definitely helped him out.
Lebron can do this every night. He doesn't because that's simply not his game. He is a pass first player with an extremely high basketball i.q. He makes everyone around him better. This is why he is the best player in the NBA and Kobe can never be better than him.
Abu Nation yes he could. And he shows it when he wants. And every player in the league says they're happy LeBron doesn't have that attitude and that he's a pass first player. Many say he could average 40 if he wanted to and there wouldn't be another anyone can do.
Here in 2018, was 12 years old in 8th grade when I witnessed this performance. I remember to this day how emotional this game was for me, years from now when LeBron is retired and everyone is on the the next big superstar I’ll always look back and remember how great of a player this man was. Thanks for bringing a championship to Cleveland and making us Ohio folk proud.
I was at this game with my dad. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in sports. After he got rolling everyone knew the game was his, there was no way to deny him. It was a heartbreaker, but I'm glad I got to see it.
I'm from Cleveland, watched Bron play in highschool and all of his games as a cav.. he had alot of great moments.. but this takes the cake.. I remember watching this game and having a heart-attack the whole 4th qrtr and OT.. this truly is an alltime great performance by the little bastard
Lebron has so many all time amazing playoff games now that people just pretend like half of them didn't happen. He has more playoff game winners than Jordan and Kobe combined. Dude is unreal.
Kobe is garbage compared LeBron when it comes to the playoffs. Kobe has never led both teams in every catagory in a game let alone a NBA Finals. GTFOH.
Steven Pascal yet Kobe eliminated *24* 50+ win teams (most in history) compared to LeBron measly *7*.... Kobe had much the more difficult competition in the playoffs while LeBron is in the weak ass east, there's a reason LeBron is 3-4 in the finals aka against Western conference teams
Don't you mean Shaq eliminated? LeBron is better than Kobe in every catagory from a career standpoint. You better do your research. Not to mention he has more playoff points and made 3pts than Kobe. He did all of that taking less shots than Kobe, without being a chuck wagon. Please stop.
Still watching this masterpiece in 2021! This man has been ranked number 1 since his freshman year in highschool and lived up to all the hype. As a sports fan it's been great watching him. Hes one of the few guys that was worth the all the hype in highschool!
Pistons were so washed they didn't even have Ben Wallace which means no rim protection. I guarantee if this was 04 or 05 pistons Lebron wouldnt went to the finals. East conference was so weak man. The heat team left so wade was by himself & pistons was washed up. There were no were near elite. That's how Lebron got to da finals.
***** butthurt?? LMAO Nobody is butthurt over here. Pistons werent the team that Were 2 year prior to this. And this isnt the greatest playoff preformance in NBA history its one of them stop overhyping LBJ Please.
d tay tell me what other play off performances were better. Don't tell me mj or ai because they lost both those games while lebron won this one in overtime
Lebron has this performance not clutch Lebron legacy on the line scores 47 on the road on the Celtics still not clutch game 6 against the Spurs 16 in the 4th leads his team back from a 3-1 deficit still not clutch
I liked him as a person more with Cleveland why do ya'll think I'm saying he was a better player with Cleveland? Same concept with Shaq..I didn't like him with LA..but I started too when he joined Miami. It's not that hard to grasp.
This shit was Rigged, LOL!!! I cant believe you all can not see this. Every play Rasheed is just looking at him giving him the free lane to the basket. All sports are rigged.
A lot of defense is trust. You sometimes need to trust a teammate to handle a guy if they have good position, because if you give up your spot you are offering up a free 3 point shot if lebron passes, which he did PLENTY of that game as well. They couldn't stop him. They had the BEST defense on the planet that year, and one man picked them apart.
People criticize Lebron for losing the finals series, but it was absolutely remarkable that he even made it there with this team. This was an incredible performance. Even Jordan did not rise terrible teams to the finals like Lebron. Jordan lost 7 times, in the first round numerous times. I know the fanboys try to boil it down to finals record only, but a playoff loss is a playoff loss, and it's not a better/disqualified loss if it's first round instead of finals. Lebron had the two worst supporting casts ever for finals teams, 2007 an 2015 (injuries to love and Irving).
it's fourth quarter which reminds me of the performance James did in finals. Don't forget there's clutch in season game but finals matters more. Lebron WILL get his ring or rings eventually just watch, it might even be this year, depending on where dwight howard moves
What he did in 1:50 was beautiful jumping backwards to create space and landing on balance to shoot. You know he knows his own length and capabilities.
I wont forget what those Pistons did, 6 straight Conference Finals (2nd on the All Time Record List), 1 Championship in 04' over Kobe & Shaq in 5 games, back 2 back Finals appearances with a chance to repeat over the Spurs in 05' in a 7 game series This Team didnt have a "SUPERSTAR" such as a KOBE, LeBRON, MELO, or D-WADE etc. but they won a RING, went to back to back FINALS, and 6 straight Conference Championships Games. This was a great TEAM. Thanks for the memories! Detroit Basketball!!!
I remember that i was watching this in 2007. And i didnt know much about LBJ and was a partial pistons fan. After this game i like lebron so much more and started to follow his stats and become a lebron fan. This game showed how important he was to the cavs
Lebron scored, rebounded, dished out assists, coached the team, and in this case took over the entire series. What else can you ask of a guy that just turned 23 at the time?
This was Lebrons best performance and hands down one of the best in NBA history. This was against the best defensive team of that era with zero help, vs a team who played for 2 of the most recent Finals. And at 22 years old. This Cavs team was a complete joke.
i remember this game. hah, that was before LeBron, Wade and Bosh decided to take their talents to south beach in 2010. maybe i don't like LBJ but i have to admit he's a beast. Jordan and Kobe level no doubt
I'm a Cleveland fan, born and bred NE Ohio, still love the Cavs, wish LeBron hadn't left or at least hadn't dissed everyone like he did ... but I gotta say I watch this video about once a year because what he did that night in the playoffs against Detroit was beyond incredible. I'll never forget it. Twenty-five years from now, I'll try to remember this about LeBron instead of the whole "South Beach" thing.
As Lakers fan,I have to say that Love or hate him,every one has to admit what he did in this game vs Piston is just incredible.Basically He played 1 on 5 for the entire 4th quarter and OT plus this Piston was the best defensive team that year.He beat them all by himself.
I'm a cavs fan, and I'll admit, I was mad at him at first but then i looked back and noticed Dan Gilbert did absolutely nothing to get him a team. Gilbert offered him to come back and he told lebron it was gonna be the same team from the year before. of course he fucking left. Nobody to play with. No chance to win! Everybody would have done the same
lebron james 48 points shooting 54% from the field with 9 boards and 7 assist wow that was a beast.. scored 29 for the last 30 for cavs plus the game winning layup.. and he led the the cavs which is not a very good team at that time(larry hughes,bigZ,gooden,gibson,snow,varejao,brown and some players are unknown for me.) to the NBA finals but got swept by the spurs.. for that this must be his best season and best game ever. :))
Kobe has five rings, 2 finals mvp, one reg. Season mvp. Bron has 1 ring, 1 final mvp, 3 reg. Season mvps. Thats more than enough evidence that Bron was more responsible for his team success than kobe was. Kobe lost shaq and the lakers immediately became obscure. While lebron never had a star in cle but always managed to have a better record. Put kobe in cle and hes begging for a trade with a sub-.500 record, lebron in la, hed be on ring 5 atleast, by now.
lmao tyshaun refused to be in a poster he dipped at 0:32 ...how can people dislike this video? this has to be in the top ten for one of the greatest playoff performances of all time and he was like 21..and it was against a great defensive pistons team who eliminated them every year..even if your a lebron hater give credit when it's due.
This was the year that LeBron became my favourite NBA player. He single-handedly beat the Detroit Pistons, which was the most dominant team in the East.
The 3 best parts of this video, in order are: 3) Chris Webber wearing #84 2) The faces on all the Pistons on the bench after he hits the shot right in front of them 1) Zydrunas Ilgauskas' hair
1:33 player in the corner: shot clock running down, lebron coming my way about to get trapped by my man? yea ill just stand here. Cavaliers had no idea what they were doing that year, minus lebron.
I still can't believe I passed up this game... I went to Detroits last home playoff game every year from 2003-2009 except for 2007 damn Got to see Shaq and KB, then Shaq and Wade, then Shaq and Lebron lol if Detroit was 8th seed for this years playoffs I would see Shaq again
I noticed that too...and it's weird because when I watched this game in 07 I didn't notice it until now. They barely had any switches, played him straight up man to man, and when he went in the lane there was no help, or no one was jumping.
I'm from Cleveland. This is easily the best game LeBron ever played for any team. This will go down in hostory as one of the best performances ever. But he still took the easy road for his ring. He deserves the ring, but him winning one ring in Cleveland is equivalent to him winning 3-4 in Miami.
Damn I remember this game like yesterday.. Every time Detroit through a punch Lebron would answer with a big shot..difficult shits as well.. I was scared for a min Lebron would answer everytime..epic performance.. 29 0f the last 30
I am one of those Lebron fans that have accepted that this generation of NBA "Fans" will never appreciate this guy for how great of a Player he is. This generation has been poisoned by social media to hate Lebron because it makes you look "cool". I just hope that future generations 20 years from now will look at this videos and wish they had the chance to watch him live.
Well my friend, I’m happy to say the narrative has changed and people finally appreciate his greatness.
it’s worse sadly
Still true to this day
Haters*
10 years later it’s worse hating wise with fans.
i remember watching this game in utter disbelief. best performance ive ever witnessed.
"No killer instinct, no clutch gene."
Ha.
Mobley Hernandez steve a smith is a dumbass
@@LouieVIsOnMe and skip to this day
I was 10 years old in 4th grade when LeBron did this. Im a lifelong Kobe fan. when Lebron scored 29 of the last 30 for Cleveland basically upsetting the Detroit Pistons alone was just the beginning of LeBrons greatness. LeBron and Kobe r deeply hated by opposing fans because they will embarrass the opposing team on any given night
I was too young to witnesses MJ in his prime, but this is personally the greatest individual performance i've ever witnessed. As a kid i was just blown away at what i was watching. This was the beginning of the end of that mid/late 00's Pistons squad & the strangle hold they had on the Eastern conference.
Kobe 81
kharris20413 If I would've saw Kobe 81 live point for point, it would probably be the greatest I've ever witnessed. Not to take anything away from it, but I watched this entire game & saw Lebron literally defeat the Pistons by himself in a pivotal playoff game.
I think game 6 against Boston in 2012 was a bit better only cause the circumstances
I've yet to see ANY other player in history carry a team like this at the age of 22. Lebron's in his own respective lane.Period
***** Jordan lost in the semi finals against boston that year at 23, lebron at 22 single handedly beat detroit in the semi finals AND went to the finals.
+Pooch Luelz and this same pistons team won the championship in 04 and all 5 starters were all-stars in the same year.
Jordan had 63...against real defense not this soft shit.
look at how many of those dunks feature pistons players moving out of the way to avoid a foul. back in the 80s lebron ass was hitting the floor hard on every one of those attempts. and it wouldn't be considered a flagrant foul
Joe Momma but lost to a 22 year old lebron in 07 lol
+Bennbo Simo no one got in front of Charles Barkley or Karl Malone when they did that in the 80s. can you imagine LeBron who is twice their size playing then .Lol it's really laughable
I was in the crowd for this game. It's been 7 years and I still can't believe what I saw him do that game........
balconi71 Amazing :)
How was the atmosphere???
+Pooch Luelz GREAT!
"One of the greatest performances of all time"? It is the greatest take-over performances of ALL TIME. LeBron James is making everybody feel sorry and making them feel so SALTY like the one on 3:03. LeBron is a hell of a player and Most likely will go down as the GOAT one day. P.S. for all those haters saying LeBron passes too much instead of taking shots like game-winners(or tying) in the clutch, YOU'RE WRONG. The 2016 playoffs can tell you how clutch he really is.
Jordan Egbuna LeBron James was indeed clutch. He got a couple of triple doubles in that series. You know you're one of the greatest when you can find it in you to get your teammates involved AND STILL take over a game when necessary. That's WHY the Cleveland Cavaliers won the championship.
It's like 1 on 5!
The best performance ever . This is coming from a Micheal jordan Fan
Jordan was my favorite, too, but when I had the privilege to see this game live on TV, I was blown away! This is one of the most unreal things I've ever witnessed in a major sporting moment.
The best Jordan performances were in the Finals: 13 consecutive FGs vs Magic in Game 2, 35 points (6 treys) in a half vs Drexler in Game 1, 55 points vs Barkley in Game 4, The Flu Game vs Malone & Stockton, etc...
When the commentators say that this is "Jordan-esque", they mean that it's just a sample of what MJ tended to do many times in the playoffs.
***** That's basically what I said.
***** "Jordan-esque" doesn't translate to "how both Jordan and LeBron took over games". It just refers to Jordan taking over games. He did it so many times that it spawned that term.
***** Jordan and LeBron aren't the only players who took over games in NBA history. But there are no such terms as "West-esque", "Bird-esque", "Magic-esque", etc... Same if LeBron came first. Besides, this is about what the commentators meant. Not what you meant.
I've never seen a better individual basketball performance than this.. Spectacular
***** In the last 15 years, I can only think of Kobe 81 and AI Game 1 of 2001 NBA Finals on the pro level. And this was in a Conf Finals series leading to the Finals. Lebron scored 25 consecutive points. Only Wilt Chamberlain can top that. I'm pretty sure this game will go down in history as one of the top 5 individual playoff performances
AJ Davis what about shaq's game 2 in that 2001 finals when he nearly had a quadruple double or when kobe had 62 in 3 quarters and outscored the mavs by one at the end of the third? oh and there is shaq's 61 and 21rebs on his birthday albeit against the clippers!
Joshua Han The regular season games are a step lower than postseason. I only said Kobe 81 because it's the most points we will probably see an NBA player score in a game in our lifetimes. That's pretty special. And Shaq's domination was pretty much expected at that time. Post season performances at the top of my list: This game, Tim Duncan near quadruple double vs Cavs, AI 2001 vs Lakers, MJ Last Game as a Bull short list. But Lebron 48 Special takes the cake. If you were watching that game, you literally watched a legend being born. We were WITNESSES lol. Dude scored 29 of his teams last 30 points! Just keep re reading that sentence.
AJ Davis LeBron GOAT
Tayshaun Prince wanted nothing to do with Lebron at 0:30 lmfao
2020 someone?
Still the best Performance ever
cant believe this happened seven years ago
Wait to see what happens now when he has 4 actual teammates that can play & he has the hometown hero attitude instead of the villain motive...
Troy James Wait to see what happens? As in, they lose? Cause they lost.
Can't believe this happened 10 years ago
Demian de Jesus can't believe it's not butter
Dang, now it's been 17 years. Nearly 2 decades ago
i'm confused, i thought Lebron couldn't take over a game and didn't have the 'killer instinct'. I guess all those Kobe fanboys lied
He's facing a Pistons team w/o Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace was past his prime. Lebron is overrated and benefits from playing in a Inferior Conference
Tom Manning
Where was the killer instinct in the 2007 Finals when it mattered most? He killed his team with 35% FG and 6 turnovers a game
By the way, 2007 Cavs were 3-1 without LeBron, and had a top 5 defense
They locked down Ginobli to 0 pts on 0/7 FG in Game 3
LeBron missed game tying 3
They locked down Duncan to 4/15 FG in Game 4, LeBron 6 turnovers, 10/30 (33% FG) and 2-6 FT as the Cavs lost by 1 point
LeBron in 2007 beat two teams without a winning record (Nets and injured Wiz with no Arenas/Butler) and Pistons without HoF Coach Larry Brown (always made the Finals under Brown) and without 4x DPOY Ben Wallace
Hakeem in 1994 had 0 HoF, 0 all stars, and Tomjanovich as his coach (not HoF)
The worst team Hakeem beat in 94 was the 47-35 Blazers with HoF Drexler
The best team LeBron beat in 07 was 53-29 Pistons with no HoF coach Larry Brown, and no 4x DPOY Ben Wallace
Hakeem beat real competition like Barkley/KJ, Stock/Malone, and Ewing/Oak/Mason
and he actually played defense, when he shut down Ewing in all but one game of the Finals, and the saving block on Starks in Game 6
LeBron was destroyed by Tony Parker in the 07 Finals when he tried to guard him
Hakeem = led his team in ALL 5 categories for the 1994 playoffs
Hakeem = all of his teammates in 1994 scored less in the Finals than Wade/Bosh in 2014 Finals, his top 3 scorers shooting 32%, 37%, and 42% FG
Still carried them to the win, unlike LeBron in 2007, 2011, or 2014
No need to bring up 2012 and 2013, because thats when LeBron had help
LeBron has never carried a team to the title when they struggled in the Finals, unlike MJ scoring/asssitng 50% of his team points in 97
unlike Magic winning Finals MVP without Kareem in 1980 Game 6
unlike D-Wade carrying his team in 06 with Shaq averaging 14-10 in the Finals (Gooden 13-8 in 2007) and all his teammates scoring less than Wade/Bosh in 2014 Finals, number 1 scorer was 39% FG Antoine Walker
unlike Hakeem leading his team in all 5 categories for 4 playoff rounds, shutting down Ewing, with his top scorers shooting crappy 32%, 37%, 42% FG
Lebron Not Top10 All-time. LeBron is GOAT Deal With it
Hoyum Toy
LeBron - only franchise player in his prime to get outscored by a bench player in the Finals (2011)
LeBron - only franchise player in his prime to get outplayed by a role player 3 straight games in the Finals (Games 3-4-5 of 2014 by Kahwi Leonard)
Check the footage if you don't believe me
"LeBron's Overrated Defense Exposed - 2014 NBA Finals"
"Kahwi Leonard locks down LeBron - 2014 NBA Finals Game 5"
checkmate
not top 10 - deal with it
Lebron Not Top10 All-time. Poor little basketball fan, can't handle proven facts, At this point in his career LeBeron has completely solidified his place in the top 5, it's funny how you keep dissing Leonard that enough discredits your comments when he is a is a stone-cold stud.
he was unreal that game. i remember going to that never gonna forget it.
you were at the game!?
I remember watching this live when I was about 11 years old , I thought for sure he was going to go down as the greatest player ever , he still very well could but for a 22 year old to do this was just insane against a Pistons team that was great defensively aswell
in my opinion can't be the greatest ever with his NBA finals record. one of the greatest ever, no doubt.
He might not have the greatest career, but from a reliable eye test, one would be hard pressed to find someone with more talent for the game than Lebron James.
+NBA Myths exactly that's what I'm saying. His worst years are in the finals. Kobes worst years aren't in the finals. I think if lebron wins 3 more titles he surpasses mike.
+NBA Myths in my opinion it's the same, u either win a ring or the season was a failure. no hate on LeBron it's just how I see it.
+Adam Johnson (RailRoad) is losing in the first round better than losing in the finals?
Game 5 of 2007 eastern finals and Game 6 of 2012 eastern finals will forever be remembered as some of the greatest performances of all time
From pt 81 to 109, I wish he could just play again like this.
check the scores and the time.. they needed every bucket he literally won the game.. 22 years old against chauncey billups and the pistons.. just respect it, all i ask
For all those people still comparing Kobe and Lebron, If you were to remove Kobe and Lebron from their respective teams during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, where the Lakers won, the lakers would still be a playoff team while the Cavs would have been garbage. Lebron was that team and this video proves it. He is better then Kobe in every statistical category. Kobe went 6-24 in game 7 vs celtics and they still won, so his team definitely helped him out.
Lebron can do this every night. He doesn't because that's simply not his game. He is a pass first player with an extremely high basketball i.q. He makes everyone around him better. This is why he is the best player in the NBA and Kobe can never be better than him.
let's be real, LeBron cannot do that again, even if he wanted too lol this is once in a lifetime performance
Abu Nation yes he could. And he shows it when he wants. And every player in the league says they're happy LeBron doesn't have that attitude and that he's a pass first player. Many say he could average 40 if he wanted to and there wouldn't be another anyone can do.
Here in 2018, was 12 years old in 8th grade when I witnessed this performance. I remember to this day how emotional this game was for me, years from now when LeBron is retired and everyone is on the the next big superstar I’ll always look back and remember how great of a player this man was. Thanks for bringing a championship to Cleveland and making us Ohio folk proud.
It’s February all star Break 2022 and lebron still Playing great lmao 🐐👑 That Man the 🐐👑
he just finds a way right through them lol
10 year anniversary and I remember it like yesterday
Same here! Amazing performance!
Holy shit this was 9 years ago…
14 now haha
Lol
One of the best single game performances I've ever witnessed
I was at this game with my dad. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in sports. After he got rolling everyone knew the game was his, there was no way to deny him. It was a heartbreaker, but I'm glad I got to see it.
damn i still remember when i watched this live. amazing game
The 8th year anniversary man, crazy!
9 years now
Shut up Kevin
man, I used to love this lebron
I'm from Cleveland, watched Bron play in highschool and all of his games as a cav.. he had alot of great moments.. but this takes the cake.. I remember watching this game and having a heart-attack the whole 4th qrtr and OT.. this truly is an alltime great performance by the little bastard
WE ALL WITNESSES
Everything at 5 mins down in the 4th quarter is considered clutch. Well, that was alot of clutch.
There are people who try to downplay this performance. I’ve lost all hope.
Lebron has so many all time amazing playoff games now that people just pretend like half of them didn't happen. He has more playoff game winners than Jordan and Kobe combined. Dude is unreal.
As a lifelong Cavaliers fan, I remember this like it was yesterday. absolutely amazing.
Kobe wishes he ever had a performance like this in the playoffs.
Kobe dropped 49 and 10 on the nuggets in 08, fuck you talkin about
Kobe is garbage compared LeBron when it comes to the playoffs. Kobe has never led both teams in every catagory in a game let alone a NBA Finals. GTFOH.
Steven Pascal yet Kobe eliminated *24* 50+ win teams (most in history) compared to LeBron measly *7*.... Kobe had much the more difficult competition in the playoffs while LeBron is in the weak ass east, there's a reason LeBron is 3-4 in the finals aka against Western conference teams
Don't you mean Shaq eliminated? LeBron is better than Kobe in every catagory from a career standpoint. You better do your research. Not to mention he has more playoff points and made 3pts than Kobe. He did all of that taking less shots than Kobe, without being a chuck wagon. Please stop.
Steven Pascal Shaq? Then how did Kobe go to 3 straight finals and won 2 (2008-2010)? Don't remember Shaq being there
Kobe NEVER had performances like this in playoffs.
The day the kid from akron became The King
Still watching this masterpiece in 2021! This man has been ranked number 1 since his freshman year in highschool and lived up to all the hype. As a sports fan it's been great watching him. Hes one of the few guys that was worth the all the hype in highschool!
The Return!
Its breaks my heart that more than half of his career has been wasted in Cleveland.
Pistons were so washed they didn't even have Ben Wallace which means no rim protection. I guarantee if this was 04 or 05 pistons Lebron wouldnt went to the finals. East conference was so weak man. The heat team left so wade was by himself & pistons was washed up. There were no were near elite. That's how Lebron got to da finals.
Pathetic excuses
Excuses??? its the truth thats why they got swept they werent posed to be there *****
***** butthurt?? LMAO Nobody is butthurt over here. Pistons werent the team that Were 2 year prior to this. And this isnt the greatest playoff preformance in NBA history its one of them stop overhyping LBJ Please.
d tay tell me what other play off performances were better. Don't tell me mj or ai because they lost both those games while lebron won this one in overtime
d tay bro the pistons got to the ECF 6 yrs in a row
I remember I became a fan after this game!
The rest of his team = Gibson, Gooden, Marshall, Z, Varejao, Hughes? lol
Lebron has this performance not clutch Lebron legacy on the line scores 47 on the road on the Celtics still not clutch game 6 against the Spurs 16 in the 4th leads his team back from a 3-1 deficit still not clutch
I liked Lebron better with Cleveland..now he's a flopper and cry baby.
lol. He's also a 2x champion
***** and 2x finals mvp lol
I liked him as a person more with Cleveland why do ya'll think I'm saying he was a better player with Cleveland? Same concept with Shaq..I didn't like him with LA..but I started too when he joined Miami. It's not that hard to grasp.
LOL!!
Kenneth Hill LeBron was older and more humble in Miami, in Cleveland during his younger years,he was treated as a King might have been arrogant
This shit was Rigged, LOL!!! I cant believe you all can not see this. Every play Rasheed is just looking at him giving him the free lane to the basket. All sports are rigged.
No.
No.
I'm somewhat a conspiracy theorist, but youre just weird.
A lot of defense is trust. You sometimes need to trust a teammate to handle a guy if they have good position, because if you give up your spot you are offering up a free 3 point shot if lebron passes, which he did PLENTY of that game as well. They couldn't stop him. They had the BEST defense on the planet that year, and one man picked them apart.
No he was just quicker and faster. Nothing no one can do with an athlete like that.
WELCOME BACK!!!! Came back in the classiest way possible. As a Cleveland guy, it means a lot to read that article
People criticize Lebron for losing the finals series, but it was absolutely remarkable that he even made it there with this team. This was an incredible performance. Even Jordan did not rise terrible teams to the finals like Lebron. Jordan lost 7 times, in the first round numerous times. I know the fanboys try to boil it down to finals record only, but a playoff loss is a playoff loss, and it's not a better/disqualified loss if it's first round instead of finals. Lebron had the two worst supporting casts ever for finals teams, 2007 an 2015 (injuries to love and Irving).
Man I miss these days. I watched this live, and I've never seen anything like it since
it's fourth quarter which reminds me of the performance James did in finals. Don't forget there's clutch in season game but finals matters more. Lebron WILL get his ring or rings eventually just watch, it might even be this year, depending on where dwight howard moves
What he did in 1:50 was beautiful jumping backwards to create space and landing on balance to shoot. You know he knows his own length and capabilities.
dominating the game even when he wasnt that polished yet. amazing.
This is the best playoff performance of all time.
the greatest nba playoff performance in the history of the NBA, without a doubt. I was amazed when I witnessed every minute of it on tv.
i was there i still remember this probably his best game coming from a piston fan
I always been a celtic fan but i uaed to love watchingthe clevland Lebron.
Today 6 years ago the best performance i ever seen live
I wont forget what those Pistons did, 6 straight Conference Finals (2nd on the All Time Record List), 1 Championship in 04' over Kobe & Shaq in 5 games, back 2 back Finals appearances with a chance to repeat over the Spurs in 05' in a 7 game series
This Team didnt have a "SUPERSTAR" such as a KOBE, LeBRON, MELO, or D-WADE etc. but they won a RING, went to back to back FINALS, and 6 straight Conference Championships Games. This was a great TEAM. Thanks for the memories! Detroit Basketball!!!
Watchin these moments again, feelin like crying, what a brilliance James has!
I remember that i was watching this in 2007. And i didnt know much about LBJ and was a partial pistons fan. After this game i like lebron so much more and started to follow his stats and become a lebron fan. This game showed how important he was to the cavs
Lebron scored, rebounded, dished out assists, coached the team, and in this case took over the entire series. What else can you ask of a guy that just turned 23 at the time?
This was Lebrons best performance and hands down one of the best in NBA history. This was against the best defensive team of that era with zero help, vs a team who played for 2 of the most recent Finals. And at 22 years old. This Cavs team was a complete joke.
i remember this game. hah, that was before LeBron, Wade and Bosh decided to take their talents to south beach in 2010. maybe i don't like LBJ but i have to admit he's a beast. Jordan and Kobe level no doubt
As a Pistons fan, its hard to forget this game. At one point he was being guarded by 3 people. Ridiculous.
I'm a Cleveland fan, born and bred NE Ohio, still love the Cavs, wish LeBron hadn't left or at least hadn't dissed everyone like he did ... but I gotta say I watch this video about once a year because what he did that night in the playoffs against Detroit was beyond incredible. I'll never forget it.
Twenty-five years from now, I'll try to remember this about LeBron instead of the whole "South Beach" thing.
he did more than take over this game. he went above and beyond
i admire how we moves on the court just pure power and finest!
As Lakers fan,I have to say that Love or hate him,every one has to admit what he did in this game vs Piston is just incredible.Basically He played 1 on 5 for the entire 4th quarter and OT plus this Piston was the best defensive team that year.He beat them all by himself.
One of the best playoff performances.
This and game 6 of the Celtics/Heat playoff game are some of his best in complete beast mode.
My favorite LBJ game of all time. I was in awe watching him breakdown that piston team that was the east's best.
I'm a cavs fan, and I'll admit, I was mad at him at first but then i looked back and noticed Dan Gilbert did absolutely nothing to get him a team. Gilbert offered him to come back and he told lebron it was gonna be the same team from the year before. of course he fucking left. Nobody to play with. No chance to win! Everybody would have done the same
He hit so many difficult shots in this highlight video. Dude got balls for even pulling up on such attempts.
Where are your 4th Quarter Jokes now? Owned!
I REMEMBER THIS LIKE YESTERDAY #EPIC
The pistons were like henchmen and lebron was like the ninja who killed them all
lebron james 48 points shooting 54% from the field with 9 boards and 7 assist wow that was a beast.. scored 29 for the last 30 for cavs plus the game winning layup.. and he led the the cavs which is not a very good team at that time(larry hughes,bigZ,gooden,gibson,snow,varejao,brown and some players are unknown for me.) to the NBA finals but got swept by the spurs.. for that this must be his best season and best game ever. :))
Kobe has five rings, 2 finals mvp, one reg. Season mvp. Bron has 1 ring, 1 final mvp, 3 reg. Season mvps. Thats more than enough evidence that Bron was more responsible for his team success than kobe was. Kobe lost shaq and the lakers immediately became obscure. While lebron never had a star in cle but always managed to have a better record. Put kobe in cle and hes begging for a trade with a sub-.500 record, lebron in la, hed be on ring 5 atleast, by now.
We'll likely never see a performance like this again, words can't describe it
lmao tyshaun refused to be in a poster he dipped at 0:32 ...how can people dislike this video? this has to be in the top ten for one of the greatest playoff performances of all time and he was like 21..and it was against a great defensive pistons team who eliminated them every year..even if your a lebron hater give credit when it's due.
This was the year that LeBron became my favourite NBA player. He single-handedly beat the Detroit Pistons, which was the most dominant team in the East.
How can you dislike this video!?
Who's that girl in your picture??
The 3 best parts of this video, in order are:
3) Chris Webber wearing #84
2) The faces on all the Pistons on the bench after he hits the shot right in front of them
1) Zydrunas Ilgauskas' hair
Best athletic performance I have ever witnessed... no pun intended.
One of the greatest performances every seen
1:33 player in the corner: shot clock running down, lebron coming my way about to get trapped by my man? yea ill just stand here.
Cavaliers had no idea what they were doing that year, minus lebron.
give props to big z for hitting the only other point
Super Team? What did you called Magic, Kareem and James. 3 Hall of Famers.
He took that roster to the finals, he was hungry!
I think if there is any game that solidified Lebron as an All time great,this was the game.
around 0:31, tayshaun was like "PEACE!"
Happy 15 Year Anniversary to this remarkable day.
Best LeBron James Game EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still can't believe I passed up this game...
I went to Detroits last home playoff game every year from 2003-2009 except for 2007 damn Got to see Shaq and KB, then Shaq and Wade, then Shaq and Lebron lol if Detroit was 8th seed for this years playoffs I would see Shaq again
I noticed that too...and it's weird because when I watched this game in 07 I didn't notice it until now. They barely had any switches, played him straight up man to man, and when he went in the lane there was no help, or no one was jumping.
Grandkids: poppop, when did he stop being LeBron James and turn into just LeBron??
OG me: shows video.
This performance is hard, if not impossible to replicate, there are only a handful of games in the last decade like this, playoffs or not.
I'm from Cleveland. This is easily the best game LeBron ever played for any team. This will go down in hostory as one of the best performances ever. But he still took the easy road for his ring. He deserves the ring, but him winning one ring in Cleveland is equivalent to him winning 3-4 in Miami.
Damn I remember this game like yesterday.. Every time Detroit through a punch Lebron would answer with a big shot..difficult shits as well.. I was scared for a min Lebron would answer everytime..epic performance.. 29 0f the last 30