LeBron James had a standout performance in a double-overtime Game 5 against the Pistons, scoring 29 of his team's last 30 points. This game marked a significant playoff moment in his career.
Key points
LeBron James scored 48 points in Game 5 against the Pistons
This article, 'His Time is Wow' by Sean Deveney, originally appeared as the cover story for the June 11, 2007 issue of The Sporting News.
LeBron James was in his typical postgame get-up, uniform soaked in sweat, a towel draped over his head, ice packs wrapped around both knees.
His teammate, rookie guard Daniel Gibson, was showered and scrubbed clean, in a striped polo shirt and jeans, popping a diamond earring into his left lobe.
James had just played more than 50 minutes in the biggest game of his career, a double-overtime Game 5 road win against the Pistons in last week's Eastern Conference finals. He scored 29 of his team's final 30 points — 48 total — and was having difficulty walking. He would need intravenous fluids to ensure that he didn't become dehydrated before the team left for Cleveland that night.
Gibson shook his head and said he would do his best to secure a video copy of James' performance, one that he said “defied words.” Then Gibson smiled. “You know, if he can't walk, I'll carry him,” Gibson said. “Seriously, he can get on my back.”
In Game 6, with James — the NBA's “Savior,” “King,” “Chosen One,” or whatever your preferred sobriquet — struggling with his shot and clearly willing to pick apart 's double-team traps with quick passes, it was Gibson who carried James and the into the franchise's first Finals appearance in its 37-year history.
Q&A
What did LeBron James achieve in the Game 5 against the Pistons?
LeBron James scored 29 of his team's final 30 points and a total of 48 points in the double-overtime Game 5.
How long did LeBron James play in the Game 5 against the Pistons?
LeBron James played more than 50 minutes in the Game 5 against the Pistons.
What was the significance of LeBron James' performance in the 2007 playoffs?
LeBron James' performance in the 2007 playoffs, particularly in Game 5, is considered a pivotal moment in his career, likened to Michael Jordan's playoff moments.
What condition was LeBron James in after the Game 5 against the Pistons?
After the game, LeBron James was exhausted, needing intravenous fluids to avoid dehydration.
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James' transcendent Game 5 was followed by 31 points from Gibson, a second-round pick who is built like a shoelace and is known as “Boobie.” (Which really could not be much further from the James catalog of nicknames, could it?)
Heading into The Finals, though, Boobie and the rest of the Cavaliers will fade into the background — this is James' moment.
When he hurled the ball toward the heavens (or the Quicken Loans Arena roof, take your pick) as time ran out in the Cavs' clinching Game 6 win, James broke into what might be the first genuinely enthusiastic grin of his four-year NBA career.
He has long seemed disappointed with his inability to push his team to championship contention. “That was always the question,” says Cavs guard Damon Jones. “Can he do it in the playoffs? I think he's shown he can.”
His talent is obvious — he's a 6-8 bull with trampolines in his shoes and a body by Rodin. His numbers are dazzling — he has career averages of 26.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
But James puts tremendous pressure on himself, and from the beginning of the season he insisted the Cavaliers break their huddles with, “One, two, three, championship” Coach Mike Brown would have preferred a simpler, “One, two, three, defense”
The win over the powerhouse Pistons just might mean Cleveland goes to The Finals for the next 10 years.
“I was like, 'Damn, how am 1 going to tell them to say one, two, three, defense?'“ Brown says. “So I let it go on for a little bit, and finally I said, 'He's the man, we'll say it. We want that type of pressure; let's live up to it.'“
Just days ago, the ability of James and the Cavs to live up to the pressure was in doubt. In the series opener, he shot 5-for-15, made zero trips to the free throw line and was heaped with scorn for forsaking his own shot in favor of a pass to Donyell Marshall for a 3-pointer. He was, at that point, a 22-year-old playoff novice figuring out how to win in late spring, the phenom still developing the iron stomach and irrepressible will required of a true NBA playoff great.
After he closed Game 5 shooting 11-for-14 while his teammates were 0-for-10, the stomach was hardened and the will undeniable.
His arrival in The Finals secures his spot in the NBA's pantheon of elites and could forever change the league. The win over the powerhouse Pistons just might mean, as TNT analyst and former NBA coach Doug Collins says, “Cleveland goes to The Finals for the next 10 years.”
Thus, an icon was born. What's more, James passed the ultimate test of NBA stars — he elevated the play of his oft-maligned supporting cast.
“When you watch him do what he was doing (in Game 5), leaving everything out there, showing that kind of determination, it inspires everyone else,” Gibson says. “You don't want to let him down.”
Safe to say that Boobie, who scored in double figures just nine times this season, was no disappointment. Left wide-open by Pistons double- teams, Gibson was 5-for-5 on 3-pointers in Game 6. All came either on direct passes from James or on secondary passes out of double-teams, from James to Jones to Gibson.
His arrival in The Finals secures his spot in the NBA's pantheon of elites and could forever change the league.
Of course, things get much more difficult for the Cavs in The Finals, where the Spurs, champions in three of the past eight seasons, rolled through the West with a 12-4 playoff mark.
It's difficult to imagine a team as disciplined and tough as the Spurs doing what the Pistons did: allowing James 25 straight points without delivering a hard foul. And it's difficult to figure how the Cavs will slow down the Spurs' Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Almost every advantage — experience, depth and even coaching (the Cavs' Mike Brown was mentored by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) — rests with San Antonio.
James, for one, has faith. The Cavaliers were not supposed to survive the Pistons but became just the third team in history to rally from a 2-0 deficit to win in the conference finals.
James says it was just their time. “We're going to enjoy (this) and get back to work,” James says, smiling. “And then, we'll get ready for the big bad wolf of the West.”
