Did LeBron James play the 3 greatest games ever in 2016?

one is a small number and for a limited time i have a one dollar a month deal if you sign up at theathletic.com thinking basketball they feature huge names like david aldridge and john hollinger and also have great local coverage for every team you can download the app customize who you want to follow and also help support this channel by heading over to the athletic dot com slash thinking basketball for that six month dollar special today it's hard to say exactly who played the greatest game or greatest series of all time but lebron james's last three games of the 2016 season might be the best three consecutive games ever played like many of the all-time greats lebron has a collection of greatest hits playoff games that define his career but it's rare for these games to happen consecutively and with the season on the line to say nothing of a 73 win opponent in golden state game 5 felt like a coronation in oakland with the warriors fans ready to crown their 73 win champion and it was a pedestrian start for lebron with a turnover and a post-up that turned into a missed fade away a few minutes in and he comfortably knocked down a catch and shoot three which was an ominous sign for golden state because they wanted to concede these shots to james by going under ball screens like this naturally lebron missed a few of these but his makes led to aggressive shooting golden state sags off and he's quick to fire and it was clear his jumper was working when he dropped this pull-up these long jumpers start to soften up the defense a big man comes up a bit higher and a little hesitation is enough to drive it home and finish next time down it's more pick and roll into the big man and lebron turns the corner but golden state sends extra help so he somehow makes this kick out pass and then hangs around to clean up the miss for two because he finishes at the rim like a cyborg lebron's hot shooting left the warriors big men between a rock and a hard place they were reluctant to wander too far out and instead conceded mid-range jumpers which lebron was happy to rise up and knock down the warriors struggled in part because draymond green was suspended for just a bit of extracurricular activity at the end of game four which weakened golden state's defenses against this pick-and-roll action and left them with weaker rim protection in general james michael mcadoo is a huge downgrade from draymond in these small lineups and bigger lineups lacked that extra rotation to slow down the l train all of this caused golden state to try switching but that still gave lebron air space on his jumper and so next time they switch the defender slides up to cover the shot and lebron just drops the akron hammer and it's three the old-fashioned way on this trip they try to avoid the switch and the moment james senses andre iguodala leaning one way he attacks and it's over andrew bogut's injury early in the third quarter crippled the warriors backline for the rest of this game and that's when lebron's all-time playmaking started to take over to stop the pick and roll bleeding golden state brought an extra defender over so lebron whipped a skip pass for a great look later they tried to blitz james with that big man with an extra defender slid underneath so he patiently looks that defender off and drops a lob into the bigger tristan thompson for a bucket and there was ingenious manipulation in his passing running that same pick and roll and ball faking klay thompson out of the lane for another easy bunny lebron showcased a wide variety of passes down the stretch in this series and his playmaking was even better in game six a quick kick out here after drawing a double team in the post leads to another three and in transition he would have made magic johnson proud first that bounce pass and then this absurd lob to the backside which takes some stones to throw over multiple defenders and it's a bull's-eye even some of his ideas that flamed out were sage level passes harrison barnes still doesn't know where the ball went and if thompson handles it cleanly it's another layup his passing wasn't perfect those kinds of games are incredibly rare but he was still a playmaking machine setting up his teammates for a barrage of open looks that led to a 118 offensive rating in games 5 and 6. his scoring even provided some gravity working a little handoff here that sent both defenders toward lebron leading to an easy layup the filthiest pass of them all might have been this wrist flick out of the pick and roll threading the needle through a brief moment when iguodala peels off and thompson is momentarily free at the rim by game six lebron's court mapping was as dialed in as his jump shot flipping this ahead to kevin love then running it down and instantly knowing the shooter was still open at the line for another long range missile in addition to some great fast break passing lebron's transition scoring was on full display in these three games james is the best transition scorer in league history because of his size and strength mixing that with his dexterity makes him nearly impossible to contain in the open court and even at 31 his explosive straight line speed was still enough to outrace most players on the planet we'll see that explosive full court burst again in a moment exploding late in a playoff series is nothing new for lebron as he figures out his opponent in his prime his rebounding assists turnovers scoring volume and efficiency have all gone up in games five six or seven compared to games one through four of a series his one number metrics like basketball references box plus minus or game score all improve in the back half of a series whereas someone like kobe bryant stays about the same and michael jordans actually drop off due to a dip in scoring so it should come as no surprise that down the stretch of game six lebron did a little of everything attacking a closeout here and contorting for a left-handed finish off of this miss he times a cut perfectly flying by klay thompson for a dunk he crashes the boards from the perimeter and he's just too big for anyone in golden state's small ball lineup and this was part of a stretch where lebron marched off 18 consecutive points for the cavs showing off his footwork in isolation to earn more trips to the free-throw line at times it started to feel like he was toying with the warriors elite defense pump fake spin and then again earning free throws with a ball fake then he just worked his way into the lane and started making all kinds of stuff and even with iguodala draped all over him lebron showed the entire repertoire but james punctuated this game on the defensive end sending steph curry's shot into the front row and telling him pass it next time or i'll do it again i'm assuming he issued that friendly warning because in game seven curry tried it again and lebron inhaled his shot or maybe he asked him remember last time you tried this because he tracked him down in game 5 for another huge swat curry wasn't the only one who succumbed to the lebron chase down in these games note lebron timing up his steps here in game 5 against iguodala in game 6 after a tough miss against the shot clock james hustled back to give draymond green the exact same treatment and lebron's rim protection was prominent in these 12 quarters sliding down to erase shots like a dominant big man this is an incredible reaction he's on draymond but spots a cutter and instantly beams himself up to the rim to save the layup that's crazy these don't always need to be blocks either this is a high level vertical contest any paint protecting center would admire and that means his mere presence can deter shots as the warriors pass out against his rotation here for a long jumper this play in game 5 was also remarkable backpedaling against a three-on-one waiting for a pass and then doing just enough to save a dunk to be fair his defense wasn't perfect either for instance he misses a pick six here and leaves clay open for a clean three but his manned defense was strong enough for the most part and some of his reads were spectacular curry backdoors love here and lebron immediately pounces and calls for a switch and that turns into a long jumper instead of a potential layup he's following sean livingston on this one but recognizes the pick and roll danger and blows the play up for a steal some of these were really high leverage plays green's driving for a layup and lebron snatches this pass like odell beckham and it's a layup on the other end of the court i discussed lebron's elite reflexes in his 2020 defensive profile and they kick in here iguodala's wide open but james reads clay's eyes and it's a stick save lebron's hands were just super active like this throughout these games throwing them into the passing lane and deflecting balls he even flicked one from behind chasing clay around which led to a run out and this defensive impact is what theoretically puts these three games over the top for me it's six halves that include red hot big time scoring incredible play making and these huge defensive plays in game six and seven there was a more concerted effort to attack curry in pick and roll situations punishing the warriors for switching him onto lebron this didn't lead to a bunch of scores per se but instead collapsed the warrior defense allowing james to create open shots for teammates once again it was lebron's passing that exposed golden state's help he looks to the corner with two bodies in the paint and then throws the change up and it's another layup this mismatch hunting put curry in foul trouble in game six and he's sloppy here with five fouls and there's yet another lebron james dime out of this faking a shot to freeze draymond because he's a brilliant lob defender whenever green could stay with lebron it made life significantly harder and kept golden state from scrambling on defense other defenders didn't stop james from creating though he gets a step on clay here and sets up another open jumper i do think cleveland drained too much clock looking for these switches on a few possessions down the stretch leaving lebron in isolation mode with a short clock to work with and with about two minutes to go in the third a failed switch hunting attempt led to a run out for golden state and sean livingston tied the game at 71 but lebron had an answer backing livingston down and making it another steep fadeaway a few trips later he turned back into the lane for another short shot to put the cavs ahead by one after one of those late clock switches he drove left and somehow kissed this runner over draymond's help and with the cavs trailing by one inside five minutes his incredible shot making continued training a late clock 3 to put cleveland ahead after that both teams struggled to score just stuck on 89 and then it happened to curry back to iguodala up for the layup oh blocked by james lebron james with the rejection that speed and rim protection we saw throughout these games save the day with lebron sizing up the block exactly like he did in game five and i'm not sure if any other player in nba history could make that play a minute later kyrie irving hit the game-winner the cavs stunned the 73-win warriors and all told lebron james averaged 36 points 12 rebounds and just under 10 assists along with three steals and three very important blocks per game in what may very well have been the three greatest games an individual has ever played i've added a few of the other great three game stretches in the description box below remember to check out the athletic.com thinking basketball for that deal you can also support this channel directly at patreon.com thinking basketball where there's additional content a discussion community as well as an historical database of stats hope you enjoyed this one and of course that you're having a great day

Channel: Thinking Basketball

Views: 305,169

Rating: 4.9383221 out of 5

Keywords: NBA, NBA film analysis, NBA Analytics, Thinking Basketball, highlights, NBA highlights, NBA film breakdown, NBA scouting reports, scouting reports, LeBron James, best individual game, best NBA game, best individual NBA performance, best NBA Finals performance, 2016 NBA Finals, 2016 Cavs, 2016 Warriors, 2016 LeBron

Id: wDViQIwOtY8

Length: 13min 46sec (826 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/majavic]

Against a 73-9 team. Breaking a 52 year championship drought for the city of Cleveland. First team ever to come back from 3-1 in the finals.

Basketball is beautiful.

[u/Hovi_Bryant]

I love how the author provides visual analysis and sprinkles in analytics to drive the point. It's a video essay in all the right ways. Bravo.

[u/MingChing69]

Ben Taylor is always a win

[u/Roger--Smith]

Crazy that this happen 4 years ago. Seemed not so long ago.

[u/Original26]

His passing and his defense (reads and deflections) simply don't get talked about enough in that 3 game stretch. He looked like he was just simply in another level than any other player on that court (yes, including the first time unanimous MVP).

I seriously hope people who hate on LeBron and watch this video and see that his game is much more than just bulldozing to the rim. It's a goddamn art form.

[u/EvaUnit343]

This is incredible. Greatest playoff series I’ve ever watched and still learning about all these details to this day.

[u/dropdatdurkadurk]

The game 6 one I dont think Ill ever forget the level of domination. 2nd half, Kyrie had gotten banged up 1/7 2 pts that 2nd half Warriors had cut that 24 point lead to 8 and just LeBron did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Just imposed his will in a way there was that sense of inevitability you got watching him the same way you would with Jordan back in the day.

From like the 5 min mark in the 3rd quarter to the 4 min mark in the 4th quarter 24 pts 10/14 assisted on every basket of there's also outside of a Kyrie technical FT

[u/WhenItsHalfPastFive]

Stuff like this makes me really question the GOAT debate. I understand all of Jordan camp's arguments. I get it, near-perfect career.

But the competition today is so different, it requires someone with the basketball IQ of Lebron, it requires short bursts of insane athleticism like those blocks, and it requires players to be smart and learn how to conserve energy when needed. Time and time again in today's NBA we have seen teams/players run out of gas, miss an insane amount of shots down the stretch, blow leads, etc. LeBron has essentially lived in the NBA finals through all of that this entire decade.

LeBron has had some insane accomplishments even when things don't go his way, even against a 73-9 team he had the greatest 3 game stretch in NBA history.

LeBron is just built different man, the GOAT argument is narrowing so close.

[u/real-m-f-in-talk]

LeBron leading both teams in... points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, possibly will never be repeated by anyone... yet the media swept it under the rug as it if wasn't one of the greatest feats ever in basketball.

how many passes by Lebron will be forgotten highlights because the player never scored.

yet there were some who believed kyrie should've won finals MVP