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Ranking the top 5 NBA Finals games in LeBron James’s career

By Matthew Way

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 11: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after winning the 2020 NBA Championship over the Miami Heat in Game Six of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on October 11, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 11: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after winning the 2020 NBA Championship over the Miami Heat in Game Six of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on October 11, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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LeBron James
LeBron James (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

4. 2020 NBA Finals, Game 5

It seems only fitting that one of LeBron’s greatest Finals performances would come in a loss. This year’s Game 5 is the first of two losses on this list.

The knee-jerk reaction to placing this year’s legendary game on this list is to call it recency bias. In most situations, that would probably be a fair comparison. But that ignores the statistical context of LeBron’s performance.

According to Sports-Reference’s Mike Lynch, the King’s Game 5 40-point output was the most efficient of its kind in Finals history:

LeBron also added 13 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals all while dominating the game offensively.

Yes, the Lakers lost the game. And that keeps it from cracking into the top three. But, the narrative created by the game adds some luster to things as well.

Los Angeles held a 3-1 lead entering the game, and LeBron surely didn’t want to weaken his historic 2016 comeback by adding two to the list of teams who had blown a 3-1 lead in the Finals. So despite the comfortable lead, the game had very real meaning. And it was evident watching what became an all-time duel.

LeBron and Jimmy Butler exchanged punches throughout the fourth quarter reminiscent of a young James battling Gilbert Arenas in 2006. But this one came on the ultimate stage.

James received plenty of criticism for passing in a critical opportunity, but that play exemplified exactly how good he had been up to that point. Nearly the entire Miami Heat defense collapsed to get the ball out of his hands, which led to a wide-open Danny Green from three and a sequence of scrambling that resulted in an offensive rebound that was also wasted. Neither of those opportunities happen if James didn’t command so much attention because of his epic performance.