LeBron James did it all for the Cavaliers in the first half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He played like he knew full well that the winner of the game was extremely likely to go on to win the rest of the series.
Playing mostly with a small lineup featuring Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, James was the focal point of the Cavs’ offense.
He scored or assisted on 16 of the team’s 17 baskets in the first half. He also had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists all in the first half.
SI’s Ben Golliver put into context just how awesome that stat line was:
Since 2000, only players with 20/8/8 in a Finals game are Kobe, Duncan, LeBron, Kidd, Shaq and Westbrook. LeBron is there at halftime.
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) June 15, 2015
Keep in mind that LeBron did that in just ONE half.
Cleveland's last 16 FG:
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ ast
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ
LBJ
LBJ ast
LBJ
LBJ ast
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) June 15, 2015
Here was his first half shot chart:
Firt-half shot chart for Cavs forward LeBron James (20 points, 8-for-15, eight rebounds, eight assists): #usatnba pic.twitter.com/HERodE6C7W
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) June 15, 2015
With the Cavs going small to combat the Warriors’ small lineup, James was the second-tallest player on the floor. He ended up backing down his defenders and getting multiple buckets in the paint as he played big. It was awesome watching him operate as he carried both the role of point guard and center for Cleveland. His performance even had many people saying he deserved to be Finals MVP win or lose. It’s pretty hard to argue against that.
Here is some more support to the argument:
LeBron James has scored, assisted, or created 281 of the Cavaliers' 423 points through the first 4.5 games of the #NBAFinals.
— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) June 15, 2015
