With the season on the line, LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a tough Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. It required yet another huge performance from James to push his team toward a series-clinching win in a tough seven-game set over a formidable opponent.
Following the game, head coach Tyronn Lue had a tough time describing how much James’ play meant to the team’s success as he led the charge in practically every regard to avoiding a first-round playoff exit for the first time in his career, according to Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.
James had put together a stellar outing in Game 7 to seal the deal by dropping a game-high 45 points on an efficient 16-of-25 shooting from the field along with nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals in the win. In fact, this strong performance marked the second-most points scored in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history trailing only Hall of Famer Sam Jones’ 47 points in 1963, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
The 33-year-old put together an impressive first-round series against the Pacers where he averaged 34.4 points on 55.3 percent shooting from the field with 10.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per contest. This includes notching five double-doubles and a triple-double along with scoring 20 or more points in each game with a pair of 40-point outings.
James’ play was vital to the Cavaliers being able to get past the Pacers as the rest of the roster struggled to provide any type of consistent offensive scoring punch. He had to be the catalyst as both the primary scorer and distributor to give Cleveland the upper hand in order to reach the second round. James will once again have to assume that massive responsibility against the top-seeded Toronto Raptors next on tap if the team hopes to continue their quest toward reaching a fourth straight NBA Finals.