If you were to make a team to play in a winner-take-all game, LeBron James and Kevin Durant would probably be in it. The two superstars have risen to the occasion time and time again in their careers, but if you could pick just one of the two, then who would it be? Well, Paul Pierce was asked that question on Undisputed and went with James.
“If my life is on the line and I need this player to come up pretty spectacular, I gotta go with LeBron on that one,” Pierce said. “I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve seen some games that I will never forget, that I probably still have nightmares about, Skip.
“I love KD and I know what he can do on the scoring side of the ball,” Pierce continued. “But when I go back and I look at Game 6 in Boston, the game of LeBron’s life. He delivered. When I go back and look at that game, I forget what year, it was in 2007 I believe, vs. Detroit, when he was in Cleveland, he scored 45 points, 25 points in a row. When they really needed it, he did it.
“I can’t really think of a game to where I can say KD just (did it),” Pierce stated. “… Because I always look back at Game 6 and Game 7 when they were up 3 to 1 on Golden State when he was in OKC with a chance to go to the Finals. And KD needed that game to get them back to the Finals at the time and that’s when the dynasty started or kept going for Golden State.”
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1817944310333284555
I think Pierce makes some very valid points. That Game 6 in Boston in 2012 that he referred to was arguably the greatest game of LeBron’s career, considering the pressure that was on him.
The Miami Heat looked down and out when they went down 3-2 to the Boston Celtics in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. It seemed like another Heat meltdown was on the cards like in the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, but LeBron ensured that wouldn’t be the case.
James had 45 points, 15 points, and 5 rebounds in that game to lead the Heat to a 98-79 win and rip the hearts out of the Celtics. Game 7 was a foregone conclusion after that and LeBron would end up winning his first championship that year.
As for Game 5 against the Detroit Pistons in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, it wasn’t a do-or-die game but was a pivotal contest. LeBron scored 25 points in a row for the Cleveland Cavaliers that night to lead them to a 109-107 double-overtime win.
Except for the last few games of the 2011 NBA Finals, I don’t think there has really been a time when you can say that LeBron crumbled in a high-stakes game. He almost always steps up to the plate and delivers.
If you look at LeBron’s record in Game 7s, he lost his first two but has won the last six. He impressed in all of those contests too and has averages of 34.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.9 blocks in Game 7s in his career.
As for Durant, he has come up short at times, but it would be unfair to say he has never delivered when it mattered most. He averages a ridiculous 36.2 points per game in Game 7s in his career (3-2 team record) and has had memorable moments of his own. It’s just that LeBron has gotten his teams over the line in those big games more often than Durant.
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