5. 2016 NBA Finals, Game 5
Down 3-1 to the greatest regular season of all-time, another LeBron James loss in the Finals looked inevitable. But the King from Akron had other plans.
Facing elimination at Oracle Arena, LeBron scored 41 points on 30 shots, grabbed 16 rebounds, dished out 7 assists, and only committed two turnovers. In the decisive third quarter, he scored 11 of his 41 to build a lead that the Cleveland Cavaliers would never relinquish. Kyrie Irving matched LeBron’s 41 points but they got little help from anyone else, making the double-digit win in Golden State more impressive.
On the other end of the floor, we got to see a preview of what was to come from King James when he covered a ton of ground in the second quarter for a chase-down block, this time on Stephen Curry:
The important context of this game is that Draymond Green was on the bench all night as a result of a suspension. That knocks this individual performance down a peg or so on this list, but it doesn’t eliminate the brilliance of the accomplishment. LeBron’s overall performance in a must-win game in a hostile environment was still one for the history books.