LeBron James' playoff career is chock full of highlight-reel amazingness, but these six playoff performance stand as the best of the best.
6) 2013 - Game 1, Conference Finals vs. Indiana Pacers
30 points on 12-24 shooting (50.0%), 10 rebounds, 8 assists
https://youtu.be/4p3xWG3mkXE
James and the Miami Heat had waltzed through the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference Playoffs with little trouble, but they ran into a talented and motivated Pacers team in Game 1 of the East Finals. LeBron upped his game accordingly, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot before ending the game with a buzzer-beating layup. Not his best, but a good appetizer for this list.
5) 2015 - Game 2, Conference Finals vs. Atlanta Hawks
30 points on 10-22 shooting (45.4%), 11 assists, 9 rebounds
https://youtu.be/Q6fa5CprCJE
Friday's game doesn't have the same statistical heft of the four ahead of it on the list, but it's the extenuating circumstances around it that makes it so special. With no Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love, LeBron James was the Cavs' offense. Everything ran through the temporary point forward, and he made all of the team's supporting cast member look that much better with his decisiveness and lightning-quick instincts.
4) 2006 - Game 5, Conference Quarterfinals vs. Washington Wizards
45 points on 14-23 shooting (60.9%), 17-18 (94.4%) from FT line, 7 rebounds, 6 assists
https://youtu.be/1zKvFiEN5sQ
LeBron's first playoff series was a memorable one for many reasons, but this absolute evisceration of the Wizards stands as the finest moment of his initial entry into the postseason. Not only did James give the Cavs a 3-2 series lead with a game-winning layup with time winding down, he also scored a cool 45 points including a daffy 17-of-18 shooting from the free throw stripe.
3) 2009 - Game 3, Conference Semifinals vs. Atlanta Hawks
47 points on 15-25 shooting (60.0%), 5-10 from 3-point range, 12 rebounds, 8 assists
https://youtu.be/XoW8JKgM3bc
You can make a good case for this being higher. LeBron joined Michael Jordan as the only NBA players with 45 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a playoff game, blitzing Atlanta from every direction all game long while garnering loud applause from a supposedly pro-Hawks crowd. Former Atlanta forward Josh Smith said that LeBron played "out of his mind" in this one. That's not far from the truth.
2) 2012 - Game 6, Conference Finals vs. Boston Celtics
45 points on 19-26 shooting (73.1%), 15 rebounds, 5 assists
https://youtu.be/P7augZr9C98
This LeBron outing, during the Miami Heat Big Three's first title run, stands as one of the best elimination game showings of the modern era. LeBron just wouldn't let the Heat's championship dreams die, dropping 45 on an absurd 73.1% shooting to upend the Celtics in Boston -- a place where the Heat had lost 15 of their last 16 games.
1) 2007 - Game 5, Conference Finals vs. Detroit Pistons
30 points on 12-24 shooting (50.0%), 10 rebounds, 8 assists
https://youtu.be/d1Px-jPm_TU
This isn't just LeBron James' greatest playoff performance. It stands as one of the most dominant single-game outings by any player in NBA Playoffs history. LeBron's 48 points, nine rebounds and seven assists are eye-popping enough. But, it's the fact that he scored the Cavs' final 25 points, and 29 of their last 30, to lift Cleveland to a 109-107 double-overtime win which cements this as an iconic game for the ages.
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