Divine in Boston, like his entire team, in the first two games of a series where the Celtics were cut to pieces, LeBron James returned to Massachusetts in Game 5, to finish the job in this final of conference and qualify once again for the Finals.
“Again”, because it would be his seventh consecutive participation (it will stop at eight)! And, in order to make this match a little more unforgettable, he also had the possibility of becoming the leading scorer in the history of the playoffs, ahead of Michael Jordan. Just that.
The atmosphere in Boston is pleasant to him and the Cavaliers winger will hover over the meeting: 35 points (at 13/18 to shoot and 4/7 at 3-pts), 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 34 minutes. It was in the third quarter, on an award-winning basket, that he would definitely overtake the former Bulls rear (5,987 points scored). The supreme honor for him.
“I wear number 23 thanks to Michael Jordan and I fell in love with basketball thanks to him and his exploits”, commented the “King” after the meeting. “When you’re a kid, it’s a bit like God, and I never imagined one day becoming like Mike. I did everything like him. I was shooting fadeaways before I knew how to do them. I wore a calf sleeve. I wore very short shorts. I wore red and black shoes with white socks. I was like him. »
Alone on his planet
If LeBron James needed more games than Michael Jordan to score as many points as him, he got there by also taking fewer shots than “His Airness”. And it is precisely this aspect that is impressive at home, because the quadruple NBA champion is not of this breed of scorers as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and other Kevin Durant could be.
Remember also that he is the second most prolific passer in the history of the playoffs (2,023), behind a certain Magic Johnson (2,346).
“I’m not a scorer, and I don’t want to be labeled as such. I can score, but I’m a creator. A player. Put me on a pitch, and I’ll find a way to succeed. When it comes to scorers, there have been some very great ones in NBA history. Guys who took a lot of shots and scored a lot of points. But I’m not one of them. »
The only player in history to exceed 8,000 points in the playoffs, LeBron James then suffered a setback with the Lakers, by not participating in the 2019 “postseason”. But he had widened the gap before, with Cleveland, thanks to its immense 2018 playoffs (748 points scored, the second highest total of all time, over a campaign). Without forgetting afterwards, with Los Angeles, thanks to his big passage in the “bubble” in 2020 (580 points, the sixth highest total of his career, over a campaign).
Currently, the quadruple Finals MVP has precisely 8,023 points in the playoffs. Far, far ahead of the competition, because he has more than 3,000 points ahead of Kevin Durant (4,878 points), the second most prolific scorer, at this stage of the competition, among the players still active.
