Henry Imler May 31st, 2007

LeBron James just played the game of his life. The best single
person performance in a meaningful game since Jordan. Jordan when? Too
many to pick from.

James scored the last 29 of the Cav’s 30 points
(through 2 over times and half of the 4th quarter) in dramatic fashion.
His other teammates were not hitting their shots - but James was.
Fadeaway jumpers to the left, behind the back to his right - everything
was dropping. When it came to crunch time his drives were unstoppable -
2 dunks and a multi-foul (uncalled) layup to put them in a position for
each over time and the win. Absolutely incredible. The only more
incredible thing is seeing the Piston’s whine after every single play.
Each one. Don’t get me started. I seriously think that I love Jordan as much as I hate the Pistons. X is equal here to an eight turned on its side.

Anyway de-grammarulated rambling over.

Update: Gregg Doyle gets it right:

He took on the Detroit Pistons down the stretch of the
biggest game of this NBA season to date, and damn if he didn’t win. In
reality, the Eastern Conference finals should read: Detroit 2,
Cleveland 2, LeBron 1. Because LeBron won Game 5.

By the time overtime rolled around, after trying to stop James with
6-foot-9 Tayshaun Prince and 6-3 Chauncey Billups and 6-2 Lindsey
Hunter and 6-6 Rip Hamilton, the Pistons abandoned that nonsense and
started playing a modified box-and-one.

The box guarded James. The one guarded his teammates.

The box failed. The Chicago Bears would have failed. This was high
school all over again. James was the biggest, baddest athlete on the
floor, and when the ball was in his hands everyone else was an
accessory.

James scored the Cavaliers’ final seven points of regulation. Nobody else from Cleveland even shot the ball.

James scored all nine of the Cavaliers’ points in the first overtime. Nobody else from Cleveland even touched the ball.

James scored all nine of the Cavaliers’ points in second overtime.

This was silly. James was going dribbling past one guy, juking
another and dunking on a third. Prince got out of the way of one jam,
wanting no part of that poster.

This was absurd. James was dribbling out the shot clock and falling
backward and throwing in a 23-footer over Prince’s condor wingspan.

This was insane. James was going left, losing Billups with a
behind-the-back dribble to the right, then hitting a moving 22-footer
with two seconds on the shot clock.

This was magical. This was memorable. This was the best performance
of this NBA season, and yes I’m aware Kobe Bryant scored 65 points
against Portland this season. That was nice, but that was Portland. And
that was the regular season. This is Detroit, and this is Game 5 of the
Eastern Conference finals.

There is no exaggeration there - I have it Tivo’ed.

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