LeBron James revisits the time he dropped 51 points vs Orlando after Magic GM questioned his competitiveness
LeBron James revisited one of his best scoring games during his NBA career. The LA Lakers star is still an elite player despite being 39, but those days of dominating oppisitions with 50+ points are probably over. That said, the King remembered his ninth career 50-point game on Instagram stories on Wednesday.
A video shared by the Instagram account 'lbjhistory' recalled the night when James went off against the Orlando Magic in 2011 after the team's GM Otis Smith criticized LeBron's decision to join the Miami Heat.
"I was surprised he went (to Miami). I thought he was, I guess, more of a competitor," Smith said back in the day, via the Associated Press.
LeBron shared this post on his stories and added another message, reminding everybody that he was and is still a competitor.
"Competitior that 50 piece!!" James captioned the post.
What followed those comments was a 51-point show by LeBron James. The forward took over that game from the very beginning, scoring 23 points in the first quarter and making his first 11 shots. Despite the Orlando Magic's late rally, they couldn't move past the Heat, who got the 104-100 win.
James finished the night making 17 of his 25 shot attempts and missing only three of 17 free-throw attempts. Following the matchup, he clapped back at Smith, saying that the game had different implications for him.
"Just playing this team got me going," James said. "We understand that it wasn't just any regular-season game. There were a lot of things said about us in the offseason that came from this organization. So we just wanted to come in here and play to our abilities and make a statement."
LeBron James once said he'd retire before playing for the Orlando Magic
It looks like LeBron James hasn't had the best relationship with the Magic, especially after he won the 2020 NBA championship inside the infamous NBA bubble at Walt Disney World during the COVID-19 season.
During a 2021 episode of UNINTERRUPTED's 'The Shop,' James said he hadn't taken his daughter to Disney World, putting the blame on his experience in the bubble. Then, when asked what he'd do if traded to the Magic, he gave a strong response.
"I’m just retiring. It’s over," he said. "LeBron has been traded to Orlando. LeBron lives in Malibu."
He didn't mean that in a bad way or out of hate for the Magic, but it was clear LeBron James wanted nothing to do with the city of Orlando at the time.