



Even for his most ardent detractors, it’s difficult to talk about LeBron James and his career without lapsing into outright obsequiousness. He’s been to six straight Finals and has three championships to show for it, and along the way he’s logged some of the most dominant individual performances in league history.

Even before he started his remarkable run with the Big 3 Heat, he somehow managed to carry haphazardly-constructed Cavaliers teams to deep postseason runs, and in fact, some of his best playoff games happened during his pre-Miami days. Whether it was his play against the Pistons or those epic Wizards series in his first Cleveland run, those duels against the Spurs when LeBron was going full Flying Death Machine (shoutout Matt Moore) with the Heatles, or any of those games against The Warriors following The Return, LeBron has consistently delivered.

Today, we take a look back at some of those games that have made him one of the best postseason performers the NBA has ever seen.



10. Game 4, 2010 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals Against The Bulls

LeBron had a phenomenal series against a prime Derrick Rose that year, but his Game 4 outing stood above the rest. He finished with a huge triple-double of 37 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists and made six of his nine attempts from downtown. Cleveland would go on to win the series in five games, but get ousted by the Celtics in the second round.

9. Game 3, 2015 Eastern Conference Finals Against The Hawks

The Hawks were coming off their best season in franchise history, and many thought they might pose a legitimate challenge to the Cavs, who were eyeing their first Finals appearance since LeBron Jame’s prodigal return from Miami.

The truth was that they never really stood a chance, and LeBron’s Game 3 performance was as dominant as it gets. He finished with 37 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists, and three steals. Cleveland would complete the sweep the following game.



8. Game 4, 2014 Eastern Conference Semifinals Against The Nets

This particular series had quite the narrative going in. The Nets had somehow managed to sweep their regular-season series against the Big 3 Heat, which left some hapless pundits wondering whether a potential second-round upset was in the cards. The short answer to that was a resounding no.

LeBron James made damn sure of that. In Game 4, he tied his career playoff high by dropping 49 points on a hyper-efficient 16-of-24 shooting from the field. They’d knock off the Nets in five games, but they would end up meeting the same fate later in the Finals when the San Antonio Spurs ran a veritable basketball clinic on them that ultimately spelled the end of the Big 3 era in Miami.