Ranking LeBron James' Playoff Buzzer-Beaters
So after Wednesday night's iconic Game 5 finish, there was almost immediate chatter comparing LeBron James to the GOAT Michael Jordan. Why do you say?
Also read: 5 Achievements LeBron James was the Youngest to reach
Well, there are plenty of reason but for yesterday specifically, it was this:
Now, there can be legitimate arguments made for both sides (Jordan and LeBron) but I'll leave that for another time, a better time. Right now, it's time to appreciate the James' greatness, given what he did in Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers while playing his 15th season in the league.
He put up 44 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block on 14-of-24 shooting in 42 minutes. What's not in that stat line - his clutch block on Victor Oladipo and the buzzer-beating game-winning 3 on the next play.That three was his 4th game-winning buzzer-beater of his career, as the tweet suggests.
Plenty to rank, right? Yes, so here we go but as always, there are key factors that determine the rankings:
a) Shot difficulty (the shot itself, time on the clock and the contest by the defender).
b) What's at stake (prior to the shot)
#4 Game 5, Round 1 against the Indiana Pacers 2018
If you consider the factors mentioned, it isn't very difficult to understand why this shot is at the bottom of these rankings.
First of all, the scores are tied (which it shouldn't have been) so even if LeBron misses the shot, the worst that could happen is that he would have to lead and will his team to victory in overtime. The Pacers fought hard but they couldn't buy a bucket on possessions that mattered and the overtime period, which is essentially all clutch minutes, it's safe to say they might have lost anyway.
Obviously, nobody can predict what will exactly happen but betting on LeBron and Kyle Korver to carry the Cavaliers to an overtime win wouldn't necessarily be considered risky.
Again, I'm not saying it would have been easy but it's more likely. Getting to the degree of difficulty, let's just it was the easiest among all the "shots" on this list.
Also, let's say, he doesn't make the shot and Indiana win Game 5. It's not the end of the world. James is still, by far, the best player in this series and isn't outlandish to think that he could single-handedly scrape the Cavaliers through to the next round with back-to-back wins in elimination games.
P.S: He's done it before in 2012 against a better team.