“It felt like he was going to single-handedly win that chip for them… Kill mode from start to finish” - Ekam Nagra on LeBron James’ performances in the 2015 finals, says the Warriors caught a lucky break
LeBron James has been to ten different NBA Finals, winning four titles in the process. But Ekam Nagra believes his greatest performance came in the 2015 finals against the Golden State Warriors.
It was LeBron's first season since returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he led them to the finals after losing only two games in the first three rounds. With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving unavailable, the offensive load was solely on LeBron's shoulders.
On the Ball Don't Stop podcast, Ekam described how impactful LeBron was in the series. The caption of his Instagram post read:
"Always felt LeBron’s best Finals performance was 2015, and the Dubs caught a break with Kyrie and Love being out that series. I was covering all those games in the arena and in many moments it felt like he was going to single-handedly win that chip for them. He emptied the clip, imposed his will on every possession, and was in kill mode from start to finish. If Kyrie doesn’t go down in G1 or Love even plays as Bron’s co-star this was the Cavs in 6. #Bully"
In the third slide, there was a clip of Nagra commenting on the series. He said:
"Hear this out, LeBron's best performance in the finals, to me, to this day is 2015. I remember being at Oracle, I covered all those games. He went into that mode because he had to. There was no [Kevin] Love there was no Kyrie [Irving]. So, he's like 'f*** it, I'm letting it fly.' On his Cleveland s***, into that Kobe [Bryant] mode."
"They damn near won the series because they were a game away. Had that gone to Game 7, I think LeBron, even if they lose, gets finals MVP. I don't understand how [Andre] Iguodala got finals MVP there when LeBron averaged 38 a game."
The Warriors won the series 4-2 despite LeBron's scoring clinic. It was the first of many finals losses for LeBron that came at the hands of the Warriors.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals for four consecutive seasons
From 2015 to 2018, LeBron led the Cavs to the NBA Finals, and they squared off against the Warriors each of those times. LeBron promised to bring a championship to Cleveland, and he came close to delivering several.
Unfortunately, overcoming the Warriors was an arduous task for the four-time NBA champ, who managed only one series win against the Western Conference team.
Never forget what Lebron James did in FOUR NBA FINALS against GSW from 2015-2018 🔥 https://t.co/YApiigSPjX
While LeBron James mustered only one victory against the Warriors, he did so in record-breaking fashion. He led the Cavs to overturn a 3-1 deficit, becoming the only team in NBA history to complete a comeback despite going 3-1 down in the finals.
With one swing, LeBron James set a new league record and also prevented the Warriors from getting one. They would have undoubtedly been the greatest team in league history if they culminated their 73-9 season with a championship.
Failure to achieve that has left the debate wide open, with the 72-10 1995-96 Chicago Bulls seen as the better team by many. The Bulls won the championship in 1996, something the Warriors failed to achieve even though they had a better regular-season record.