INDIANAPOLIS: Since his iconic playoff performance against the Detroit Pistons in 2007, reminders of LeBron James’ greatness have been frequent.
His amazing stat lines, his mounting list of triple-doubles at age 32, his six consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and three NBA championships are taken for granted. Like Tiger Woods, James has been in our midst for so long that we might not comprehend the history we’ve witnessed, we might not miss what James brings to the game until he’s no longer playing.
But reminders of how James elevates those around him are much less tangible. In that sense, James’ performance against the Indiana Pacers in a 119-114 victory Thursday night in Bankers Life Fieldhouse was one of the best illustrations in James’ 14-year career.
Certainly the best since James dragged the injury-wracked Cavs to Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals before falling to the Golden State Warriors.
It’s one thing for him to raise Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to his level in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals as the Cavs ended Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought. But as the Cavs pulled off the greatest second-half comeback in postseason history, rallying from a 25-point deficit in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series against the Pacers and from 26 down in the second quarter, James led the charge with Irving and Love on the bench.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue made the gutsiest decision of his 1½ seasons when he sat down the struggling Irving and Love for the night with 4:17 and 2:29 remaining in the third quarter, respectively. The Big Three had scored 71 percent of the Cavs’ points in the first two games. The salary commitments to Irving and Love and the possible blows to their egos might have concerned other coaches, but Lue made the move and decided to stick with the hot hands as long as it was working.
These were the same hot hands that James derided earlier this season when he called the Cavs’ roster “top heavy as s***.” That was before the arrival of Kyle Korver and Deron Williams, whom he played with in the fourth quarter along with Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye. He had a veteran point guard in Williams, 3-point specialists in Frye and Korver and a defensive stopper (or so his reputation goes) in Shumpert. J.R. Smith was the sixth man, but got just under three minutes.
Asked what he would call James’ fourth-quarter supporting cast, Korver said, “Inconsistent.”
In the final 12 minutes, James scored 15 points, with five rebounds and three assists. In the second half, he scored 28 points. He finished with 41 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, the seventh 40-point triple-double in NBA playoff history. It was his second, tying him with Oscar Robertson for the most in NBA history, according to ESPN, and the 17th postseason triple-double of James’ career.
He scored or assisted on 73 points, the most in a playoff game in his career, according to ESPN Stats and Information, as he won his 20th consecutive first-round playoff game.
“LeBron willed us home,” Lue said. “That’s what playoff basketball is all about. You gotta be willing to sacrifice and lay it on the line to win a game and that’s what he did for us.”
Irving and Love, who voiced their approval to Lue’s fourth-quarter lineup, knew what they had seen.
“I believe it with him. It doesn’t surprise me. But you’re still in awe of a special performance like that,” Love said. “He was the one that kept us rolling and one of the great performances I’ve seen and been a part of.”
Michael Jordan has the most 30-point, 10-assist playoff games with 15, according to the Elias Sports Bureau; James is now tied with Jerry West for second with 14. The mere mention of that, along with the fact that James passed Kobe Bryant on Thursday and moved into third on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list will irritate Irving.
“He still amazes me. The question is can he ever amaze you guys?” Irving said. “Every time he does something amazing, he’s always compared to someone else, other performances. But tonight, that was unbelievable.”
But James didn’t do it alone. Frye scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and made the dagger 3 on an assist from Smith for a seven-point lead with 54.8 seconds left. Williams’ steady direction helped the Cavs go without a turnover in the second half, a statistic not lost on Lue. Korver added six points, making both of his 3-point attempts, as the Cavs shot 63 percent in the fourth quarter and held the Pacers to 32 percent. With defensively challenged Irving and Love sitting, the Pacers made just 13-of-51 shots after halftime.
Frye captured the essence of what he, Korver, Shumpert and Williams created in the final 12 minutes.
“That second unit, we kind of showcase ’Bron and what he does,” Frye said. “He’s basically the best rolling-to-the-basket passer in the league right now. When you have Kyle, myself, Deron is also a great assist guy and Shump who’s a great spot-up shooter and a great defender, it makes it kind of difficult. You’ve got to pick your poison with us.”
Egos were cast aside, the once-overlooked members of the second unit followed their leader as he reached new heights, even for himself, for those who put stock in the aforementioned 73 statistic.
But this was a night where the numbers to savor were 25 and 26. Those who have followed James’ career knew the comeback wasn’t inconceivable. The crowd, with pockets of Cavs fans, got louder as their belief grew.
Whom James accomplished it with, players who were willing to follow and “showcase” him, provided a different, often-overlooked perspective on James’ greatness.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.