If you missed this game last night, then you better find someone who TiVo’d it or have it on a video tape, otherwise you will want to wait for EPSN Classic to air this game, and they will for many years.
Lebron James performance last night was just unbelievable. I couldn’t sleep all night, as a Cavaliers fan, my heart was pounding all game especially in the fourth quarter. Then I had to endure more of it for two double overtime.
“LeBron soars to dunk. He drops in unmakeable jumpers. He leaps to the defense of a hacked teammate. Even the hard-to-please Wise LeBron can’t quibble watching this one with a glass of ice-cold lemonade.” Andrew Ayres said on ESPN Daily Dime.
“This performance was one that’ll be talked about for ages, a testament to greatness that’ll rank right up there with Reggie Miller’s 8 points in 8.9 seconds, Michael Jordan’s 63-point coming out party in the Boston Garden, or his “flu game” in Utah, Magic Johnson’s 42-point outburst while playing center in Game 6 of the 1980 finals.” Chris Sheridan, EPSN Insider said.
Paul Forrester of SI describes the game as “Jaw-dropping”, “Heart-pounding”, “Legendary”
Gregg Doyel from CBS Sports Line said, ” On this night James was the best basketball player I’ve ever seen. Best you’ve ever seen, too,”
“This is the single best game I’ve ever seen at this level in this atmosphere, hands down,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “I don’t know what he can’t do.”
Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal said in a special to ESPN article:
“When he was 15-years-old and his team was trailing at the half of an early-round state high school tournament game in a tiny gym in Wooster, Ohio, LeBron James needed to take over. He scored the first 15 points of the second half and the rest was history.
When he was 18-years-old and playing his final high school game, in front of a sellout crowd at Ohio State University, his team was in a dogfight to win the state championship game and a mythical national championship. He scored 25 of his team’s 40 points and the rest was history.
When he played his first professional game in a boisterous environment far away from home in Sacramento, it was in front of millions of skeptic eyes. He scored 25 points, the most ever for a preps-to-pros debut, and the rest was history. So many gyms, layers of challenges and moments of failure led James to the mindset he took into the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night. Each had its own significance, one building upon another, that led a 22-year-old freakish body to become matched with a hyper-developed basketball soul that may be just starting to bloom.
Thursday night wasn’t just about scoring 48 points in a conference finals game on the road. It wasn’t even about scoring his team’s last 25 points, including every tally in both overtimes. It was about applying the knowledge acquired over years of demanding and high-profile challenges. ”
“He put on an unbelievable display out there,” said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, whose own mighty clutch plays were swallowed by James’ historic run of dominance. “It’s probably the best I have seen against us ever in the playoffs.”
The Cavaliers still have more work to do on Saturday and Lebron and his teammates will have a chance to take this franchise and all its fans to a place where they’ve never been to “THE NBA FINALS”.
For now, you can watch the highlights of game 5 here.
For post game interview, watch this video:
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