LeBron James vs Stephen Curry: Top 5 epic battles over the years
The NBA will be treated to the most anticipated play-in tournament game of 2021 when LeBron James and Stephen Curry go head-to-head on Wednesday. The LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors will battle it out for the chance to advance to the 2021 NBA Playoffs as the No. 7 seed.
The stakes are high when LeBron James and Stephen Curry face each other for the 39th time in their careers. Since Curry entered the league in 2009, James has played for three different teams already—the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and LA Lakers. On the other hand, Chef Curry has always been a Warrior throughout his career.
NBA titles owned by LeBron James and Stephen Curry
In 18 seasons, LeBron James has amassed four titles spread out between the Miami Heat (2), Cleveland Cavaliers (1) and LA Lakers (1). Stephen Curry has claimed three titles under his belt and all of them came at James’ expense.
Over the years, they’ve battled on the NBA’s biggest stage a total of four times with several memorable games played between them. Ironically, LeBron James was named Finals MVP just once while Stephen Curry failed to claim it even once as his teammates Kevin Durant (2x) and Andre Iguodala (1) were voted for the award.
Let’s check out their 5 most epic battles.
5. 2013-14 NBA Regular Season Game (Feb. 12, 2014)
One of the first epic battles between LeBron James and Stephen Curry occurred during the 2013-14 regular season. James was still with the Heat at the time and they lost to the Warriors 123-114 during their first meeting of the season.
LeBron James had 36 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. He also shot 4-of-8 from downtown. But Stephen Curry was pretty good in this game as well, going for 29 points, five rebounds and seven assists while shooting 4-of-4 from 3-point territory.
Despite Stephen Curry's excellence, the night belonged to LeBron James, who scored the game-winning three on a step-back over Iguodala with 0.2 seconds left to lift the Heat past the Warriors 111-110.
In typical mano-a-mano fashion, Stephen Curry made a bank shot and completed a three-point play to put the Warriors up two points with 14 seconds to go, setting up a dramatic finish to the game that stunned the sellout crowd at Oracle Arena.
4. 2015 NBA Finals Game 5 (June 10, 2015)
On the brink of his first NBA title, Stephen Curry went toe-to-toe with LeBron James in Game 5 of the 2015 NBA Finals. The Warriors went up 3-2 in the series after Curry put the team on his back to propel Golden State to a 104-91 victory over the Cavaliers.
Stephen Curry exploded for 37 points on 13-of-23 shooting including 7-of-13 from three and 13-of-23 overall. He also had seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. His 3-pointer with 1:22 seconds left in the fourth quarter put the Warriors up by 11 and he then canned four free-throws to seal the deal.
For his part, LeBron James had 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in 44 minutes.
3. 2018 NBA Finals Game 1 (May 31, 2018)
This is the highest-scoring Finals game of LeBron James’ career so far, a 51-point effort that went for naught after teammate J.R. Smith made a huge blunder in the final seconds of the game.
The Cavs’ George Hill made just one of two free throws with 4.7 seconds to tie the game at 107-all. Smith grabbed the rebound when Hill missed the second attempt and dribbled out the clock believing his team was ahead. Instead, the game went into overtime where they lost to the Warriors 124-114.
Regardless of Smith’s boo-boo, LeBron James was unstoppable in this game, making 19-of-32 from the field for a scorching hot 59.4 percent shooting. He also added eight rebounds and eight assists.
Stephen Curry wasn’t too shabby in this game either, leading the Warriors with 29 points (5-of-11 from three) to go along with six rebounds and nine assists.
2. 2016 NBA Finals Game 4 (June 10, 2016)
Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals proved to be Stephen Curry’s best in the series as he poured in 38 points on 11-of-25 shooting and 7-of-13 from the arc. After subpar performances in the first three games, the back-to-back MVP pushed his Golden State team to within a win of their second straight title.
The Warriors, now up 3-1, beat the Cavaliers 108-97 to set up a series for the ages (more on this later). Stephen Curry also had five rebounds, six assists and two steals. With his team leading by four at 88-84 midway through the fourth quarter, the league’s unanimous MVP made a backdoor layup to give them a six-point lead.
LeBron James nearly had a triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, but he committed seven turnovers that were costly on a stage like this.
1. 2016 NBA Finals Game 7 (June 19, 2016)
In this epic series, LeBron James and his Cavaliers emerged victorious in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, giving the franchise its first-ever NBA Championship. Moreover, they became the first team in league history to climb back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals to win a title.
The fact that they defeated the 73-9 Warriors, the most successful team in NBA history in the regular season, made it sweeter for LeBron James and company, who escaped Oakland with a 93-89 win. The four-time MVP had a triple-double in Game 7 with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
It was a tight contest in which neither team led by more than eight points. Additionally, the game was marked by 20 lead changes and 11 ties, with the final winning margin ending up as the smallest of the 2016 Finals.
Stephen Curry struggled with 17 points, making just 6-of-19 field goals and 4-of-14 from three. Despite Curry’s poor shooting, the Warriors stayed close and even had a 87-83 lead late in the fourth quarter after leading them to a 7-0 run.
However, with the score tied at 89 and less than two minutes remaining, LeBron James would race down court for a spectacular chase-down block on Iguodala that would go on to become one of the best plays in Finals history.
Soon after, Kyrie Irving would give the Cavs a 3-point lead and LeBron James would make a free throw for the game’s final score.
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