The Cleveland Cavaliers are well on the way for their third straight appearance in the NBA finals. After struggling at times during the regular season and finishing as the number two seed in the East, the Cavaliers have absolutely dominated their opponents in the postseason. They faced the Indiana Pacers in the first round in a highly anticipated matchup between Pacers' star Paul George and of course Cleveland's superstar LeBron James. Cleveland ended up sweeping Indiana 4-0 although some of those games were close and came down to the wire. Paul George averaged 28 points on 38% shooting in the series but the one thing that was obvious from that first round series was that LeBron James is still the best player in the NBA.
Throughout the four games in the first round against the Pacers, James averaged 32.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.0 assists. He did that while shooting 54% from the field, 45% from the three-point line in almost 44 minutes of playing time. Pretty impressive for a guy in his 14th season in the league.
James: "There isn't anything I have left to prove."
In a recent interview to Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon, LeBron adressed his legacy: "What else do I have to prove? Seriously, what else would I have [to do]?" James said. "I've won championships, I won my first one and I've won for my teammates, I came home and won. There isn't anything I have left to prove." Well, James could be right as he will probably go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
As far as individual accomplishments go, James is right as he really has nothing else to prove. He's a four-time league MVP, three-time champion, three-time Finals MVP, two-time All-Star MVP...the list goes on. This is the 14th season of his career and the way he's dominating opponents at 32 years of age is really amazing. His latest postseason run with the Cavaliers just goes to show that he's not slowing down at all and is far from over.
He played 74 games during the 2016-17 regular season with the averages of 26.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.7 assists on 54% shooting. He turned it up the notch when the playoffs started. We already mentioned what he did to the Pacers in the first round, but the way James performed in the second round against the Toronto Raptors is even more impressive.
LeBron storms through the Raptors in the Semifinals
After beating the Toronto Raptors 4-2 in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron and the Cavaliers faced the Raptors again this postseason. James and company dismantled the Raptors as they swept them 4-0 and advanced to the Conferece Finals for the third straight season. It was a series for the ages from LeBron James who finished the four-game sweep averaging 36 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He shot 57% from the field, 48% from behind the arc and 83% from the free throw line. He became the first player in NBA history to score 35+ points in every game of a four-game sweep (35, 39, 35 and 35). With 39 points in Game 2 against the Raptors, LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second place on the all-time postseason scoring list.
James now has 5847 postseason points and the only player to score more is Michael Jordan with 5987. It's more than likely that LeBron will surpass Jordan on the all-time list during this postseason as he needs just 150 points to catch him.
In eight games of this year's playoffs he is averaging 34.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.1 assists. The most complete player the NBA has seen is at the height of his powers, dominating every aspect of the game as he continues to amaze every basketball fan. It's hard to argue that he is having one of the best postseason runs ever and we can only sit back and appreciate what he's been able to do.
