LeBron James has lived through many NBA Finals games in which he's played great and lost. It's one of the stories of his career.
But the Game 5 duel James staged with Jimmy Butler in the Miami Heat's season-saving 111-108 victory Friday over the Los Angeles Lakers instantly goes in the pantheon of his career showdowns.
Before Friday night, James' greatest man-on-man heavyweight-style match was with Paul Pierce, still the most tenured of all James' rivals, in Game 7 of the 2008 conference semifinals.