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MANILA, Philippines – Last Monday, June 1, sports websites across the internet commemorated the two-year anniversary of former Cleveland Cavaliers guard JR Smith’s infamous blunder in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals.
With the score tied at 107, Smith made a clutch offensive rebound off George Hill’s missed go-ahead free throw then surprisingly proceeded to dribble out the clock, forcing overtime against the heavily favored Golden State Warriors.
Smith’s gaffe and LeBron James’ subsequent reaction became a gold mine of memes following the incident as the Cavaliers eventually got swept in the most lopsided finals series in history.
What many may have forgotten however, was that James scored a playoff career-high 51 points in that series-defining Game 1, which explains the visible frustration on his face after Smith practically wasted all of James’ efforts within seconds.
That outlying instance aside, statsheet-stuffing individual efforts in basketball’s biggest stage shift momentum to those players’ teams more often than not.
Here are just some of the best performances that helped teams ultimately win the Holy Grail of the game: an NBA championship.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving – Cleveland Cavaliers, 2016 Finals Game 5
James: 41 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks
Irving: 41 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, 17/24 shooting (71%)
Speaking of James, he found himself with his back against the wall in the finals more often than not in his first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
Such was the case in 2016, when the Golden State Warriors were already one win away from capturing their second straight NBA title at the expense of the Cavaliers. However, James and fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving had other plans.
Taking full advantage of the untimely suspension of Warriors’ top defender and vocal leader Draymond Green after a flagrant foul call in the previous game, James and Irving became the first set of teammates to eclipse 40 points each in the same finals game.
The Cavaliers ultimately blew out the Warriors on their own floor, 112-97, then tied the series up at 3 games apiece in Cleveland, 115-101, after James dropped 41 more points even with Green back in the lineup.
James and Irving then solidified their historic run to the title in Game 7 with “The Block” and “The Shot,” making the Cavaliers the only team in league history so far to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the finals and win it all.
Elgin Baylor – Los Angeles Lakers, 1962 Finals Game 5
61 points, 22 rebounds, 22/46 shooting (48%), 48 minutes
Elgin Baylor is one of the earliest Hall of Famers to retire without a single NBA championship to their illustrious resumes.
And like every story of other ringless legends, Baylor’s futility was certainly not due to lack of trying.
This was epitomized in Game 5 of the 1962 finals against the Boston Celtics, where Baylor erupted with a monstrous 61-point, 22-rebound double-double and pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to a crucial 3-2 series lead off the 126-121 win.
Nearly 6 decades later, Baylor’s scoring mark that day is still the finals scoring record, which would have meant a lot more had the Lakers won just one more game.
But it was just not meant to be as Bill Russell pushed the Celtics to a two-game comeback charge to win his fifth of a record 11 NBA titles.
Due to nagging injuries, Baylor retired as an 11-time All-Star just 9 games into the 1971-1972 campaign with a 0-7 finals record.
That same season, the Lakers won an NBA record 33 straight games en route to the NBA title. Although the team awarded their former star a ring for his contributions, it was never officially recognized as he was no longer part of the roster.
Willis Reed – New York Knicks, 1970 Finals Game 7
4 points, 3 rebounds, 27 minutes
From a finals record 61 points, the list now moves to the other end of the spectrum, where perhaps the most important four-point game in NBA history lies.
By 1970, New York Knicks center Willis Reed was starting to approach the tail end of his Hall of Fame career.
Although he averaged 23.7 points and 13.8 rebounds in that year’s playoffs and helped the Knicks reach the finals against their cross-country rival Lakers, Reed was battling a torn thigh muscle which ultimately forced him to sit out Game 6.
The Lakers then took advantage and obliterated the Knicks, 135-113, to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Madison Square Garden.
As Reed kept his playing status in doubt until warm-up time, he hobbled to the court to a massive standing ovation and decided to bite back the pain and play.
He scored the Knicks first two baskets, grabbed 3 boards and nothing more, but his presence inspired his teammates and fans beyond what stats can ever quantify.
Walt Frazier erupted with a series-high 36 points, a far cry from his previous high of 21, as the Knicks dispatched the pesky Lakers, 113-99, to win its first-ever NBA championship after a 24-year drought.
Reed then won another title in 1973 before injuries forced him to retire the following season at just 31 years old. The Knicks have not won another title since then.
Magic Johnson – Los Angeles Lakers, 1980 NBA Finals Game 6
42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals
Unlike Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was not able to provide an emotional boost the Lakers sorely needed in Game 6 of the 1980 finals against the Philadelphia 76ers.
As the master of the skyhook stayed hooked to the bench due to an ankle injury he sustained in Game 5, the Lakers were left with a sizeable hole at center as they prepared to endure a hostile Philadelphia crowd.
Enter superstar rookie Magic Johnson, who shifted from his natural point guard position all the way up to center and brought the house down with a big man stat line of 42 points and 15 rebounds to go with 7 assists and 3 steals.
For his uncanny adaptability and natural talent, the 6-foot-9 kid became the youngest Finals MVP in NBA history after the Lakers blew out the 76ers on their own floor, 123-107.
Johnson only got better from his phenomenal rookie season and ultimately went on to become arguably the greatest point guard of all time.
With a resume of 5 NBA titles, 3 Finals MVPs, 3 league MVPs, 12 All-Star selections and 9 All-NBA First Team berths, it’s obviously hard to disagree.
Bill Russell – Boston Celtics, 1962 NBA Finals Game 7
30 points, 40 rebounds, 4 assists, 53 minutes
It’s only fitting that the list ends with the man whom the NBA Finals MVP Award is named after.
With the 1962 championship on the line against fellow future legends Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Bill Russell had to dig deeper than ever before in Game 7 of the 1962 finals.
Two games prior, Baylor had just set an NBA record 61 points before he and West each scored 34 points in a Game 6 losing effort.
Sure enough, the Lakers star duo again came out guns blazing in the do-or-die Game 7 and forced overtime 100-all.
With fellow big men Tommy Heinsohn and Satch Sanders fouled out, Russell uncharacteristically took over on offense as the Celtics downed the title-hungry Lakers with a 110-107 escape act.
Like Baylor’s scoring record, Russell’s 40-board mark remains unbroken in the NBA finals history books and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future.
An instance such as this is one reason why Russell has more NBA rings than fingers on his hands. The man simply knew how to win, and he did just that. – Rappler.com
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