Was this LeBron James‘ greatest postseason performance? Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue certainly thinks so.
James played all 48 minutes in Game 7 Sunday night in Boston, finishing with 35 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in Cleveland’s stunning 87-79 victory against the Celtics.
James, 33, is headed to his eighth consecutive NBA Finals and Lue says, given the circumstances, his masterpiece last night ranks up there with anything he has ever accomplished in the playoffs.
Of all LeBron James' 'gaudy games,' Game 7 against Celtics the best ever @clevelanddotcom https://t.co/l0eTaUaKTx
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) May 28, 2018
Per Cleveland.com:
“It was asked of me tonight to play the whole game, and I just tried to figure out how I could get through it,” James said. “Throughout timeouts, I was able to catch my breath. At halftime, I didn’t come out and warm up. That was my time to recalibrate and catch my wind again.”
To put it in perspective of just how ridiculously good James is, on Sunday he snapped a streak of either scoring 40 points or posting a triple double in seven consecutive elimination games. He scored 46 points in Game 6, has seven games of 40 or more points this postseason, and has won the last six Game 7s.
“He’s had a lot of gaudy games, but I just think Game 7, in Boston, all the circumstances that surround Boston … to come here in a hostile environment, Game 7, Eastern Conference finals,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “This and Game 7 of the Finals 2016, right there.”
He says he plans to be available to the Cavs for “at least four more games. And we’ll see what happens.”
“It’s what’s been asked of me, and I have to be able to just try to figure it out,” James said. “I don’t know I can compare it to other seasons because I can only think about this one in the present.”
