Nick Wright's Top 50 NBA Players of the Last 50 Years #1: LeBron James

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single greatest player is, of course Lebron James. But before we get into the full resume, let me explain a bit about how we are going to do today's show. Lebron's career is so long and so incomparable that we're gonna have to break it up into a couple different segments. Also, the callers we have for today's show, no one has revealed to me. They won't tell me who they are. I imagine I'm going to get sucker punched by a few of them. We will try the Kareem video. I'm sorry,

the Jordan video is forty five minutes. The Kareem video was fifty minutes. We will try our best to keep the Lebron video to under an hour. I am not sure if we will succeed both. No further ado. Number one of the fifty greatest players of the last fifty years, Number one, Lebron James. So the short version of the resume is of course, thirteen time first team All NBA. That's the most all times. Second most is Kobe with eleven, three times second team, two time third team. That is

an eighteen time All NBA performer. That is the most all time by a mile. Second most is Kareem with fifteen. He is four time MVP fourteen top five MVP finishes. Only Kareem has more, and eleven times he has been first, second or third team or MVP that is, of course the most all time. He is six time All Defense and should be a one time Defensive Player of the Year. More on that shortly, a one time scoring champ, one

time assists champ. Twenty five seasons he is I'm sorry, eighteen seasons he has averaged at least twenty five points per game the most all time. Second is Kevin Durant, who did it thirteen times. He has averaged twenty five, five and five eighteen times. That is the most all time. Second is Oscar with nine time nine seasons. Doing that, He's the only player ever to average twenty seven, seven

and seven for his career. Oddly enough and crazily enough, has never had a single twenty seven seven and seven game. Though that's a weird but true fact. He has six seasons averaging at least twenty seven, seven and seven the last fifty years combined. Other than Lebron, there have been ten such seasons. He has tied for fourth in points per game of all time, second most of the last

fifty years, behind Jordan. He has the second most points ever scored, the seventh most assists ever context there other than Oscar Robertson, no one else is in the top twenty five of both of those categories. Lebron is second, soon to be first, and seventh. He has the tenth most steals ever. As far as longevity, he averaged twenty seven, seven and seven as a twenty year old in year two. As I mentioned, he averages twenty seven, seven and seven

for his career. He averaged thirty points per game at age twenty one, and averaged thirty points per game at age thirty seven. The most points he ever averaged in his career he was twenty one. The most assists he ever averaged in his career he was thirty five. The most rebounds he ever averaged in his career he was thirty three, and the best field goal percentage he ever had, which was an absurd center esque fifty seven percent, he

was twenty nine. So at every different age benchmark of his career he has been his best at something different. He had a year where he shot twenty seven, where he averaged twenty seven eight and seven, shot fifty seven forty splits, almost one defensive Player of the Year, and had a twenty seven game winning streak and won the title, otherwise known as arguably the single greatest season anyone ever had. He has too many youngest ever and oldest ever records

to list them all. However, I think my favorite is he was the youngest person to one thousand points, two thousand points three thousand points. And you could go on every single one thousand point milestone that has ever been touched in the NBA, Lebron James was the youngest to ever do it. He of course, is the only member of the thirty K ten K ten k Club thirty

thousand points, ten thousand rebounds, ten thousand assists. What's more amazing is he is also the only member of the ten K ten K ten k Club, So he has thirty seven thousand chains, ten thousand, ten thousand. No one else has ten thousand, ten thousand, ten thousand. In fact, there is only one other member of the eight thousand, eight thousand, eight thousand club, that's Jason Kidd only. So

Lebron is a thirty ten to ten thousand member. Only twenty guys in NBA history are fifteen thousand, five thousand, five thousand members. And of course, he has the most consecutive ten point games, a streak that is still active one thousand and ninety six consecutive games of scoring at least double digits. Jordan's at eight sixty six, Kareams at seven eighty seven, no one else is at six hundred, and there is no active streak right now even at

two hundred. So that's the regular season stuff. Now to the playoff stuff. He, of course, as we mentioned, is a four time champion, of four time finals MVP, and a ten time NBA finalist. He missed the playoffs the first two years of his career and then never looked back. So in two thousand and six, at twenty one years old,

he plays an his first career playoff game. He has thirty two to eleven and eleven, playing all forty eight games in his first career playoff game, a thirty point triple double playing all forty eight minutes in his first ever playoff game. A couple games later, he has forty one, five and three, playing all forty eight and hits the game winning jumper with five seconds left to go up

to one in the series. Couple games after that, he has forty five, seven and six, including the game winning layup with point nine left to go up three to two, and then in Game six in overtime plays all fifty three minutes has thirty two, seven and seven. So in his first series ever, Lebron James, who would have to deal with a narrative that he has unclutch, hit two shots to win games with less than five seconds remaining,

one with less than one second remaining. An average in his first series ever thirty six points, eight rebound, six assists in forty seven minutes per game. In the next round, he lost to the two time defending Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons in seven games. Averaged for the series twenty seven to nine and six, So that means for his first playoffs ever at twenty one years old, he averaged thirty one points, eight rebound, six assists in forty seven

minutes per game. The next year, however, is when he would announce himself at twenty two years old as already the single best player in basketball, a title he held consecutively uninterrupted for thirteen consecutive years. Twenty two years old, they sweep Washington round one. He averages a humble twenty eight, nine and eight to go up two to oh on New Jersey. In round two, he has a thirty six point twelve assists game they win the series in six

down two to oh to Detroit. In the Eastern Conference Finals, he has thirty two points, nine rebounds, nine assists in forty six minutes to keep the series alive. Then Game five, the forty eight special, has forty eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists in more than fifty minutes, scoring twenty nine of the final thirty points for his team, including twenty five straight to win the game in double overtime to

go up three to two. He had a dunk to force overtime with seconds left, a layup with two seconds left in double overtime to win the game. Then, of course, in the finals, he struggled Tim Duncan, that Spurs team they had won in ninety nine, three to five, They win again and seven. He averages just twenty two to seven and seven. I will remind you, however, that that

team that made the finals. In the finals, the starters on a finals team were Booby Gibson at point guard, Sasha Pavlovich at shooting guard, Lebron James at small forward, Drew Good at power forward, and Zadrunis Ilgalskis at center. Two thousand and eight, next year, in the playoffs Round

one against Washington. Those poor Gilbert Arena Arenas Wizards teams just couldn't manage to not get Lebron early averaged thirty ten and eight in Round one against Washington, including to win the series in Game six A twenty seven, thirteen and thirteen. Then Game five the next round against Boston.

This series is two to two. He has thirty five, but they lose, so they're now facing elimination against the Celtics team that would go on to win the title, the only title Boston has over the last thirty years. What does he do in Game six facing elimination thirty two points, twelve rebound, six assists, and then Game seven, an all time Game seven duel. Some would argue it's

the best game of Paul Pierce's career. Lebron has forty five points, five rebound, six assists, but unfortunately for him, only one other calv scores more than seven points in that game and they lose by four, I believe, and all of a sudden. There's a little speculation rumblings could Lebron leave Cleveland, but those rumblings seem to quiet. During the regular season, oh nine, Lebron wins his first career MVP. It's the best Cavs team up to that point. Ever.

They win sixty six games and they are crushing in the playoffs. They Lebron opens the playoffs with a thirty eight eight and seven thirty eight points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and they play Detroit and he averages thirty two, eleven and eight. That Pistons team had made six consecutive Eastern Conference finals. Lebron swept them and essentially ended their run.

Uh He has forty seven twelve and eight forty seven, twelve and eight to go up three to zero on Atlanta in to sweeping them, where he averaged thirty four points, eight rebounds, six assists for the series. At that moment in time, the Calves are seventy four and sixteen on the season. They seem destined to be on a collision course for Lebron Kobe NBA Finals. Lebron is the best player in the league. Kobe had just made the finals

but lost to the Celtics. Looked like he was going to come out of the West.

Let's go game by game. Game one, he has forty nine points, six rebounds, eight assists on six xt seven percent shooting in a one point loss. Again, let me say that again, they lose by one. In a game that Lebron goes sixty seven percent from the field, has forty nine points, six rebounds, and eight assists, and they lose. That up, by the way, at that moment was his playoff career high. The rest of the team shot twenty

three of fifty eight. They gave up a three to Orshard Lewis in the corner of fifteen seconds left after a Lebron and one put them up to So that's how game one is. Game two he has thirty five points, four rebounds, five assists, and that's the iconic buzzer beating three. The first of five career playoff buzzer beaters, the most ever by a mile. No one else has more than three that Lebron James has, and so he has thirty five, four and five, and it takes a three at the

buzzer for them to win by one. Game three, he has forty one, seven and nine, they lose by double digits. Game four, he has forty four, twelve and seven, and they lose. So for context there they are down three to one. In the three games they have lost, Lebron has scored forty nine, forty one, and forty four while averaging in addition to the points there, nine rebounds and

eight assists. And by the way, in that overtime loss, Lebron was fouled with point five left in the game, down two, calmly goes to the line, makes both free throws, something I'm told he's scared to do, but was doing at twenty three years old, But they lose in overtime. All the same Game five, facing elimination, thirty seven points, fourteen rebounds, twelve assists, but then Game six they lose.

For that series, Lebron averaged thirty nine points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and It was the only Conference Finals loss of his career. For the playoffs he averaged thirty five, nine and seven. Then we get to twenty ten, his final year in Cleveland. The first time around, he's MVP again and facing Derrick Rose. Year two Derek Rose, not MVP Derek Rose. That would be the next year and

joke Kim nohen. Round one starts the I'm sorry after a relatively quiet Game one, Games two through four go like this, forty points, eight rebounds, eight assists, then thirty nine points, ten rebounds, eight assists, then thirty seven, twelve and eleven in games two through four to go up three to one. Wins the series in five by averaging thirty two, nine and eight. Then the famous Lebron quit

series against the Celtics. So let's actually talk about that series, because there is one really bad moment, but the rest of it has been drastically overstated. So in that series where he quit on the Cavs allegedly, game one he had thirty five, seven and seven. Game three he has thirty eight, eight and seven to go up to one. Game five was the awful ones three or fourteen from

the field. They fall down three to two. Game six, his final game as a cav the first time around, when again, if you listen to a lot of folks, he had quit on the team. He was out. So what did he do in that game six? He had twenty seven points, nineteen rebounds, ten assists, but Cleveland got blown out despite it, and that's it. Boston moves on. Boston ends up making the finals once again. They of

course lose to the Lakers in seven. Lebron for that series at for that playoffs averages twenty nine to nine and eight. Now he's in Miami and we know how this season ends. Twenty eleven. It ends in the nadea of his career and a true crossroads. They breeze past Billion round one, he has three thirty three plus point games to beat Boston five and round two. In round three,

they're facing MVP Derek Rose. If you remember, he guarded Derek Rose in the fourth quarter of those series, and Rose shot less than ten percent from the field in the fourth quarter of that series, and Lebron put up a thirty five, six and six in Game four to kind of lock that series up, go up three run three to one. But then in the finals, a true disaster never scores more than twenty four points, has an eight point game in Game four, never takes twenty shots

in a game, seems rattled. They lose three straight. He averages eighteen to seven and seven for the series. At that moment in time, it seemed utterly impossible Lebron could ever end up number one on this list or anyways. He had been to two finals. In the finals, he averaged around twenty points per game. He had a true you could see it happening in real time meltdown that even his biggest defenders in the world would say it

was inexplicable watching how he played in twenty eleven. So how do you go from that to the greatest player ever? Quite simply by ripping off unequivocally, inarguably the greatest ten year run of consecutive greatness the league has ever seen. That is what we will get into in the next segment. We gave you the regular season, we gave you the

playoff career up until and through the Dallas series. Coming up next, we will go over a decade of dominance, the likes of which, from a personal and team level cumulative, the league has never seen. That's next, as we discussed the greatest player of the last fifty years, Lebron James.

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time record for playoff thirty point triple doubles. The numbers were unbelievable, But it had those finals in twenty one eleven where he was the favorite, where he was on the better team, where they were up to one and he short circuited. So how do you go from that to the greatest player of all time and certainly the

greatest player of the last fifty years. Well by doing the followup twenty twelve first title MVP, again totally unstoppable in the playoffs, down two to one to Indiana in round two, Bosh is out for the game and again they've got no title. At this point, Lebron is everything about Lebron's being questioned and Bosh is out. He has forty points, eighteen rebounds, nine assists to tie the series. Then in Game five has thirty points, ten rebounds, eight

assists to take control of the series. They win in six averages thirty points, eleven rebounds, six assists, three steals to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals. Game one against Boston thirty two and thirteen. Game two against Boston thirty four ten and seven, average thirty one and nineteen thirty one and nine on better than fifty percent shooting. For Games three, four, and five, but they lose all three and Boston was dancing on le Bron's grave saying

horrible things to him. Were was Paul Pierce? They thought they had broken it? So what does he do in the famous Blueprint game, the game that if they lose, they're playing in Boston He's never won. The heatles are a joke. They're going to break up the team. How does he respond with what some would argue is the single finest game of his career. I would argue the most important game of his career, but only the second

best game of his career. He has forty five points, fifteen rebounds, five assists on seventy three percent shooting, facing not just elimination but legacy devastation and tea annihilation. He had thirty points on fourteen shots in the first half of that game, and then in Game seven, it is tied going into the fourth quarter. Lebron has eleven in

the fourth, Boston has fifteen in the fourth. Total, he finishes with thirty one and twelve averages for the series, thirty four points, eleven rebounds on fifty four percent for the series, and then Sweet Finals, Vindication and the Finals that ended in five, but in the beginning did not look like it was going to go that way. You're up against Katie Ross harden Abaca Game one thirty points,

nine rebounds, four assists, four steals, but they lose. Then Game two thirty two eight and five twelve for twelve with the free throw line, including two to ice the game. After he gets that big stop on Durant with ten seconds left to win by four and tie this series.

Game three twenty nine points, fourteen rebounds, Game four to twenty six points, nine rebounds, twelve assists, and then Game five to win his first title a triple double twenty six points, eleven rebounds, thirteen assists to win the title in finals. MVP for the series average twenty nine points, ten rebounds, seven assists, and for the playoffs average thirty points, ten rebounds, six assists, two steals, one block on fifty

percent shooting. By the way, remember how I said he averaged twenty nine to ten and seven for the finals. That would be the worst finals he has the rest of his career. The worst. From that point forward, twenty thirteen, I would argue it's the greatest individual season NBA history. There's a twenty seven game winning streak. He is one vote away from being the first ever unanimous MVP. Gary Washburn never Forget It, voted for car Mellow Anthony and

the guy who won. Lebron finished second Defensive Player of the Year, voting Mark Gasol one Defensive Player of the Year, but was not even voted First Team All Defense. Some very odd first All NBA voter or a Defensive Player of the Year. Stuff happened, which robbed Lebron of if you ask him privately or publicly, the one individual award that he is angriest about not winning is that Defensive Player the Year in twenty thirteen. But in twenty thirteen,

he was the best defender in basketball. He was the best offensive player in basketball. More on that moment, and his team had an incomprehensible twenty seven game winning streak. On the offensive side of it, this is the ear he shot nearly fifty seven percent from the field, including sixty percent on twos and forty percent on threes. He opened the playoffs with a twenty seven point, ten rebound,

eight assist game where he took eleven shots. He averaged twenty five points, eight rebounds, seven assists, on sixty three percent shooting in Round one in a sweep of Milwaukee Eastern Conference Finals. Game one, another thirty point triple double, thirty ten and ten, and the second playoff buzzer beater of his career. That's the one where he rezes past Paul George gets the layup for a buzzer beating layoup.

He has thirty six and eight on seventy percent in Game two, but they lost, and this series is went win loss, win, lost, win loss. It ended up going seven. In that Game seven, he had thirty two and eight. He would at some point become the NBA's all time leading scorer in points per game in a game seven, something Durant has since passed him on, but we'll get

there later. He starts the Finals off with eighteen, eighteen and ten, but in the first three finals games, the Spurs an interesting strategy, which is they were daring him to shoot or trying to make him a passer, does not letting him have any driving lanes, and he averaged only seventeen points per game in those first three games of the Finals, and then in Game four, down three to one, he has thirty three points and eleven rebounds. And then in Game six, facing elimination, the Ray Allen game.

This is the This is the one game of Lebron's career that is the most unfairly regarded by NBA media and inaccurately remembered by the average fan. Yes, it's called the ray Allen game because ray Allen hit arguably the

single biggest shot in NBA history. However, the context of that was this, going into the fourth quarter, the Heat were down ten Game six of the Finals, facing elimination again, Duncan, Kawhi, Manu, Tone, and Popovich down double digits, and Lebron in that fourth quarter has sixteen points in two assists, including of their first seventeen points of the quarter when they turned a ten point deficit into a Heat lead. He scored or

assisted on sixteen of seventeen of them. Just a Birdman free throw was the one that he didn't have anything to do with, but he actually did because he threw the lob to Birdman where he got fouled. You just don't get assists on a free throw. And then down five with twenty five seconds left the possession before the ray Allen shot, he hits the three to cut it

to two. Before Kawhi missus his free throw. They come back down, Lebron misses a three boss rebound rayund three overtime, finishes the game with thirty two points, ten rebounds, eleven assists, and three steals, facing elimination in the finals. Then in Game seven, Game seven of the finals, remember they were daring him to shoot the whole series, he makes five threes. He has thirty seven points, twelve rebounds, four assists, including after the heater up two Duncan misses that little bunny

Kawhi is on Lebron. Lebron cans a twenty footer to go up four with twenty seconds left in the finals. He then steals the ball from Manu to steal the win and hits the free throws to ice the finals. Wins another Finals MVP. Now we're to twenty fourteen. He's going for the three peat. Has a severely compromised d Wade Round one sweep of Charlotte, Hey look at Charlotte making the playoffs. Thirty points, eight rebound, six assists on fifty seven percent shooting. That's his average for the series.

Round two against Brooklyn with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce has one of my favorite Lebron games ever, Game four, Heat up to one. Paul Pierce demands publicly and privately, I got Lebron. Lebron knows that Lebron ties his playoff career high with forty nine points, does it on sixty seven percent shooting as they cruise to the Eastern Conference Finals.

They cruise in the Eastern Conference Finals, pardon me the next round to a rematch with the Spurs to make his fourth straight finals, which, by the way, that Heat team becomes the first team since the eighties to make four consecutive finals. And those finals start with a great what if game Game one, and this showed you that at this point in twenty fourteen, the Heat were no longer a super team. Bosh was fine. Wade was a shell of himself. God love him, but he was how

do I know it? Game one of the Finals. With seven minutes left in Game one of the Finals, Lebron has twenty five points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals. But if you remember, the air conditioning had gone out in the arena and Lebron cramps up. There's seven minutes left in the game, the Heater up four. They lose the game by fifteen points. They got outscored by nineteen points in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter

to lose Game one. Game two, Lebron has thirty five points, ten rebounds, three assists, two steals, and the Heat win by two to even the series, and then the next three games the Spurs play essentially perfect basketball. They win in five despite Lebron for the series averaging twenty eight, eight and four, which is good but not amazing. What is amazing is this, he did it on fifty seven percent from the field and fifty one percent from three, so we averaged twenty eight and eight on fifty seven

to fifty one splits. And they gave Finals MVP to the guy guarding him, who averaged eighteen points a game in the series and had two separate single digit point games in Kawhi. More on that in the moment. Twenty fifteen, back in Cleveland, if one of the most in over his head coaches in NBA history, David Black and a Cavs team full of guys who had never played in the playoffs, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and the other guys

that were left over on the team. Round one sweeps Boston, averaging twenty seven to nine and seven in his first series back with Cleveland. Round two against Chicago, has thirty three, eight and five in Game two to even the series. In Game three, has a twenty seven point eight rebound, fourteen assist game, but they lose on the d Rose banked in buzzer beater. If you guys remember that. Then in Game four, that's when David Black tried to call a time out. They didn't have the refs let him

get away with it. David Blatin then tried to call an inbounds play where Lebron is inbounding it with less than two seconds left in a tie game. Instead, Lebron scraps it, hits the shot from the corner, his third career true playoff buzzer beater, and ties the series. Finishes the game with twenty five to fourteen and eight. They would not lose again after that until Game one of the finals. In Game five, he had thirty eight to

twelve and six to go up three to two. In the Eastern Converwens Finals, They're playing a sixty win Hawks team that everyone now just says sucks because it fits the narrative. But they did win sixty games. He swept them, including a game Game three of that series. Kevin Love has been out, remember, since the Boston series with a shoulder injury. Kyrie missed that game with dealing with a knee injury that would obviously rear up in the flare

up in the finals make him miss the finals. So up to OH on the Hawks, he has thirty seven points, eighteen rebounds, thirteen assists. Up to oh against a sixty win team without your second and third best players, he has thirty seven points, eighteen rebounds, thirteen assists in an overtime win. He averaged with the conference finals thirty eleven and nine to make his fifth straight finals and become the only star player ever not on Russell Celtics were

playing in the sixties to do that. So what happens in the finals? Okay, Lebron has an all time performance, but Kevin Love is injured in the Boston series as out for the playoffs. We mentioned Kyrie is injured in

game one, but let's go through these finals. Lebron Game one of the Finals, the only game he got to play with Kyrie forty four points, eight rebounds, six assists, but they lose in overtime Game two of the Finals thirty nine points, sixteen rebounds, eleven assists, and they win in overtime Game three of the Finals forty points, twelve rebounds, eight assists, four steals, two blocks. They're up to one on the Warriors with Steph Clay, Draymond Barnes, Iguada the

whole cruise there except for Durant. Lebron's starting lineup that game was him, Matthew Delavadova, Emon Schumper, Tristan Thompson, and Timothy Mosgov. Color me shocked. The team of the starting Tristan and Mosgov couldn't deal with the Warriors small ball lineup as the series evolved. Game four, Game five, pardon me. Lebron has forty points, fourteen rebounds, eleven assists, a forty point triple double, but they lose. Game six thirty two points,

eighteen rebounds, nine assists, but they lose. So for the playoff, I'm sorry for the playoffs. Lebron averaged thirty eleven and nine for that series. He averaged thirty six, thirteen and nine. But again, the guy who held him to that gets Finals MVP for averaging sixteen to five and four So for a little context for the count, the rings count the finals MVPs guys in twenty fourteen and twenty fifteen.

In those two NBA finals, Lebron James averaged thirty two eleven and seven, and he was considered by the people watching the series such a physically overwhelmingly dominant player that despite him averaging thirty two eleven and seven across those two series, they gave both finals MVPs to the guys guarding him, who averaged between them seventeen six and three.

So they didn't get finals MVP Iguadala and Kawhi for their offense, it's because they slowed down Lebron allegedly, and they slowed him down to the tune of thirty two eleven and seven. And now we get to twenty sixteen, which is a very odd year. The Cavs fired David Blatt halfway through Tylu takes. Lebron seemingly was in cruise control all year and into the playoffs. The Cavs win their first ten playoff games and go twelve and two

and root to the finals. That's one of the famous Lebron quotes when they were in that In the they win their first ten playoff games. They're playing Toronto in the conference finals and they lose the next two and Lebron's asked about adversity. He's like, yeah, I faced adversity in my career. This ain't it. And they obviously end up beating Toronto in game six. Game six was his first thirty point playoff game that season. He hadn't scored thirty once.

Like I said, they were kind of coasting. Just clearly better that year with a healthy Kevin Love and a

healthy Kyrie than everyone in the East. And then in the he gets to his sixth straight finals again, the only guy to do that that wasn't involved in Russell Celtics, and now the finals is interest okay, so, and by the way, for the Eastern Arvermens playoffs, he averaged twenty five, nine and seven on fifty five percent down oh two in the finals Game three, season on the line, thirty two, eleven and six, Game four, chance to even up the series at home twenty five thirteen, nine, two and three,

but they lose, and now the series is over. Yeah, we hear Draymond gets suspended, but Clay is saying it's a man's league. Steph's being that Lebron needs to get out of his feelings. Steph is being called the best player in the league, and the Warriors are being compared to the showtime Lakers, as is this the greatest team evert And Lebron responds to that with the greatest and most important three game stretch in the history of the sport.

Game five in San Francisco forty one points, sixteen rebounds, seven assists, three steals, three blocks. That is the game that while Draymond's not there, Okay, what would draymond have done? Calves won by double digits. Lebron had forty one. Very next game, Calves win by double digits, Lebron has forty one, and Draymond is back. Game six, forty one, eight, eleven,

four and three. That was the game where the league MVP unanimous MVP Steph Curry got so frustrated he fired his mouthpiece and his wife said the league was rigged for ratings or money because Lebron had so mentally defeated them, including the a couple blocks of Steph where he kind of mean mugged them. Then Game seven, back in Oakland, Lebron plays forty seven of the forty eight minutes, has twenty seven points, eleven rebounds, eleven assists, two steals, three blocks.

One of those blocks is, of course, the greatest defensive play in NBA history. In the fourth quarter of that game, Golden State was so worn out they had thirteen points. In the fourth quarter of that game, Lebron was so worn out he had eleven. Also in the final nine minutes of that game. The only points Cleveland scored that weren't scored by Lebron was the iconic Kyrie three, and of course he did have the free throw that actually

iced the game. So that means after being down three to one and executing there the greatest comeback in NBA history, the only three to one comeback in finals history against

a seventy three win team. With the unanimous MVP down three to one, Lebron James over the rest of the Finals averaged thirty six points, twelve rebounds, ten assists, three steals, three blocks, and became the first person ever and only person ever to lead an NBA Finals in all five categories for both teams, averaging thirty eleven, nine, three and two. So now he's the defending champion. It's twenty seventeen, and it is in some circles the best Calves team ever.

I'm a believer of that. Unfortunately for the Calves, the Warriors had responded to losing to Lebron by adding Kevin Durant. But before we get there, let's talk about how they got back to the finals, which would of course be lebron seventh straight again, another record, another non Russell Celtics record, i should say, defending his title. He sweeps Indiana in Round one, averaging thirty three averaging thirty three, ten, nine,

three and two. That was his averages thirty three, ten to nine, three to two, including in Game one a thirty six six, thirteen and three and in Game three to go a three to zero, another forty point triple double, a forty one thirteen to twelve, a forty point that. By the way, there have only been twelve of those in NBA history. Lebron's got three of them. Round two

another sweep, this one against Toronto in Toronto. Against Toronto, when they sweep them, Lebron scored thirty five plus in every single game then opens these are conference finals with a thirty eight, nine and seven scores thirty four in Game four, thirty five in Game five, and they get to the finals. They went twelve and one to get back. How good was Lebron that year in twenty seventeen, Well,

they went twelve and one in the playoffs. Lebron scored thirty or more eleven times and averaged en route to the finals thirty three points, eight rebounds, seven assists on fifty six percent shooting. Then in the finals, will give you all five games? Okay? Game one twenty eight points, fifteen rebounds, eight assists. They lose Game two twenty nine points, fourteen rebounds, eleven assists. They lose Game three, season on the line at home thirty nine points, eleven rebounds, nine assists,

but Kadi hits the shot. They lose Game four, season truly on the line on one points, ten rebounds, eleven assists. They finally win, and then Game five season line again forty one points, thirteen rebounds, eight assists. So, after becoming the first and only player ever to lead the finals in all five categories for both teams, becomes the first and only player ever to average a triple double in

the finals. In those finals against what many argue is the single greatest team Ever, Lebron James averaged thirty four points, twelve rebounds, cent assists and shot fifty six percent from the field. For those playoffs, he averaged thirty three nine to eight on fifty seven percent, and the very next year he would be better. So this is how you overcome twenty eleven with this type of run. Twenty eighteen an awful Caps team. The Kyrie trade derailed them. Kevin

Love was in and out of the lineup. They were a mess. They they thought little Isaiah Thomas could help him. They thought Dwayne Wade could help him. Eventually, they were just thrilled to get George Hill and Larry Nance and Jordan Clarkson before Clerkson had really become the player he is now. And almost every single game of this playoff run deserves discussion. For time's sake, we won't do every single game of this playoff run, but we're gonna do

a lot of them. Game one of the playoffs twenty four to ten and twelve, but they lose Game two, don't want to fall down oh two forty six, twelve and five to tie the series, Game four down to one thirty two, thirteen and seven, Game five. It is a tie game. With three seconds left on one end, he pins an ola depou shout against the backboard. On the other end, he hits the game winning three to win. The game finishes with forty four, ten and eight. That

is his fourth career playoff buzzer beater. Then, in Game seven, sets the all time record for most points per game in Game seven history with a forty five point eight rebound, seven assists for steal game. For this series, he averaged thirty four to ten and eight. That's to get out of round one. Round two. They are heavy underdogs to Toronto. Toronto won fifty nine games that year. Toronto is the

favorites to make the finals. Game one twenty six, eleven and thirteen in a win, Game two forty three, eight and fourteen in a win to steal both games in Toronto, Game three thirty eight, six and seven, including a running intentional bank shot to win the game at the buzzer his fifth career buzzer beater. Average for that series sweeping a fifty nine win Raptors team thirty four eight and

eleven on fifty five percent shooting. Round three against Boston down oh one forty two, ten and twelve, another one of those forty point triple doubles. How many mean, that's three we've talked about. But they lose and they're down oh two. Game four, can't fall down oh three. He has forty four, five and three to even the series. Game six, down three to two, plays facing elimination, plays forty six minutes, has forty six points, eleven rebounds, nine

er sys, three steals, and they win. And then Game seven plays all forty eight minutes. The team scores eighty seven points. He has thirty five of them. He has thirty five fifteen to nine, playing all forty eight and then in the finals, he starts the finals with the single greatest game anyone has ever played in basketball, the fifty one eight eight with just an awful team against the Warriors with Durant and Steph and Clay and Draymond

and Iggy. But George Hill miss is the free throw and my guy Jr. Forgets the score and they lose in overtime. For that series. For those finals, in Game three, by the way, the last little gasp they had, he had thirty three to ten and eleven. For the Finals, he averaged thirty four to nine to ten. But it

was lost after Game one. For the playoffs that year, Lebron James, without another top fifty player on his roster at that point in time, and the only one who might come close at certain times is Kevin Love was in and out of lineup, Lebron James averaged thirty four points, nine rebounds, nine assists. So that means in the twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen playoffs when Lebron was I would

argue at his absolute apex that playoffs. He also set the all time record with eight forty point playoff games. Lebron James for those two postseasons, it's just incomprehensible. I'm gonna tell you the exact numbers quickly here he averaged over those two years, which again get used against him finals losses, Durrance rings, I get it. Those two playoffs he averaged combined thirty four points, nine rebounds, nine assists on fifty five percent shooting in against any team other

than Durance Warriors. That's a three peat, and the third title comes without another All Star on the team. That's not how it went. Then in twenty nineteen, he goes to the Lakers, he gets hurt, suffers his first real injury and misses the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years. It's like, oh, is it over? Not quite twenty twenty? Earns. This is the underrated part of that season.

First healthy year in the Western Conference. Earns. The one seed in the Western Conference get zero home playoff games out of it because they're in the bubble. So how does he do that? Postseason? Game one against Portland puts up a playoff game unlike any in NBA history. He has twenty three, seventeen, and sixteen, the only twenty fifteen and fifteen NBA playoff history. Game three to go up to one on Portland has thirty eight to twelve and eight.

Game five to win the series, has thirty six, ten and ten he averages for the series, a twenty seven point triple double. Round two against Harden and Russ twenty six averages, twenty six, ten and seven with one thirty five point game. Western Normens Finals against Jokich. Game three, a thirty point triple double deciding Game five, thirty eight points, sixteen rebounds, ten assists, which by the way, was his third career playoff thirty five point, fifteen rebound tennisis game

the rest of NBA history has eight combined. So when his first time in the Watting Conference playoffs, he goes twelve and three en route to the finals, playing Dame Hard and Russ and Joki and then a finals that, by any measure, is one of the ten greatest individual finals performances ever. And it just gets as soon as I said that, I'm sure you guys are like, what okay,

But let me explain it to you. In those finals, he had at least twenty five plus every game, had at least nine rebounds every game, had at least seven assists every game, and shot at least fifty percent every game. The box scores are as follows twenty five, thirteen and nine, Game one thirty three to nine and nine, Game two, twenty five, ten and eight, Game three twenty eight to twelve and eight, Game four, and then in Game five, with a chance to win the title, forty points, thirteen rebound,

seven assists, three steals on seventy one percent shooting. But that's the game. Markith Morris threw the ball out of bounds instead of throwing it to Lebron where he could hit a buzzer beat or win the championship. So they got to play a game six. How do you do in the game six? Twenty eight points, fourteen rebounds, ten assists on sixty five percent. For the finals, Lebron averaged thirty points, twelve rebounds, nine assists, on sixty percent from

the field and forty one percent from three. That's in the NBA Finals against allegedly the league's best defense. For the playoffs, he averaged twenty eight points, eleven rebounds, nine assists, and shot an impossible fifty six percent. So that means in the nine years after the Dallas series, he made eight finals, won four titles. In those finals, played KD and Duncan and Kawhi and Steph and KD and all right, I said Kat twice, I'm sorry, and Clay pardon me.

An average in those eight finals across all of them, this whole segment, what were his finals averages? Thirty points, eleven rebounds, eight assists, on fifty per shooting and thirty seven percent from three. So what does that mean is career playoff resume as a whole looks like again, I'll try to go through this quickly because I'm running out of bread. But he has the most playoff points ever. He has more than seventy six hundred. No one else has six thousand. He has the most playoff wins ever.

He's never once missed a single playoff game. He's sixth all time in playoff points per game, second most playoff assists ever, the most playoff steals ever, the sixth most playoff rebounds ever, the tenth most playoff blocks ever. He has the most playoff games ever. He is the most playoff minutes ever, with more than eleven thousand. No one else has even ten thousand. Only Duncan has nine thousand.

He has, of course, the most combined PO points ever regular season and playoffs will have the most of each individually midway through this year. In the in the finals, he is the second most points ever, not to Kareem or to Magic, but to Jerry West. He is the second most Finals assists ever, only to Magic, the second

most Finals steals ever, only to Magic. He is the fourth most rebounds in the Finals, the sixth most blocks in the Finals, the fourth most Finals games behind only Bill Russell, Sam Jones, and Kareem, the third most Finals minutes, behind only Russell and Jerry West. He is the second most career Final Finals. The second most career Finals games with forty points with seven. Who has the most, not who you're thinking. Jerry West has the most with nine.

He has eleven career Finals triple doubles. Second is Magic with eight. No one else has more than three. He has twenty eight career playoff triple doubles. That's the second most all time to Magic. He has nine seasons scoring at least five hundred points in the playoffs. That is the most all time. Second is Jordan thirteen times. He averaged at least twenty five points per game in the playoffs. That is tied for the most all time with Jordan. Twelve times. He averaged at least twenty five to five

and five in the playoffs. That is the most all times. Second is Jordan with eight. He led the playoffs in total points six times, sort of assists six times, sold to rebound twice, Totle steals four times. He has one hundred and twenty two career playoff games of twenty five, to five and five. The second most is Jordan with seventy one. The third most is Kobe with fifty two. That means Jordan and Kobe combined did it one hundred and twenty three times. Lebron has done it one hundred

and twenty two times. He has ninety two times in his career had thirty points, five rebounds five assists in a playoff game. Second most is Jordan with fifty one. Here's a fun one. He has a career playoff average. His average career playoff game is twenty nine, nine and seven. He's put up at least twenty nine to nine and seven thirty three times. Why is that a fun one? The second, third, and fourth guys on that list, Bird, Giannis and mj have done it exactly thirty three times combined.

So Bird, Giannis and Jordan have done it the same combined times as Lebron has done it one hundred and eighteen times. His playoff career scored thirty points. That's the most all time. Twenty eight times in his playoff career scored forty points. That is the second most all time. He has sixty six career thirty point playoff double doubles. That is the most all times. Second most is Elgin Baylor. He has fifty nine career playoff games with thirty points

and ten rebounds. That's the most all time. Twenty two career playoff games with thirty points in ten assists. That's the most all times. Second is MJ with fifteen. He has sixteen career playoff well forty point double doubles, that is the most all time. Secondest Will He has five career playoff games with forty points and ten assists. No one else has more than three. He has fifteen career

playoff thirty point triple doubles. Second is Oscar with eight, and as I mentioned, he has three career playoff forty point triple doubles. Only Oscar has more than one. There have only been twelve in NBA history. There's the resume of the greatest player of the last fifty years and the greatest player of all time, Lebron James. Will take a break, and then we'll have some callers tell me why I'm wrong, and I will laugh at them. We'll be right back, all right, Welcome back in What's Right?

Nick Wright, our final special edition of the fifty Greatest Players of the last fifty years, a project I've been working on for a couple of years, and for those of you that have watched or listened these episodes, I greatly appreciate it. I hope it shows the work I put into this. I'm looking at the Google doc that is just the general notes, not all the research, but the general notes for this, and it comes in at single spaced fourteen point type, comes in at seventy pages.

And I hope that for those of you that have been that are listening to this, you just made it through. I mean, god, I don't know how long the lebron segment's been already an hour, and my guess is you appreciate it. But also if you just picked and chose the guys who want to listen to totally get it. But it could be a fun thing to download and just have on your phone for long plane rides where it's like, you know what, I've always wanted to hear

good nine minutes on Bob McAdoo. I don't know if you've ever felt that way, but it's there for you if you'd like it. I hope this thing lives and breathes digitally for a long time and will adjust it as need be. Guys like Giannis or Staph or Durant, you know, move up the ranking. It's gonna take Luca a while to move up the rankings. As we ranked them pretty high. Also, I know I've been saying that

this is our last special edition. We're still gonna be doing usually not always, but usually three pods a week. We're's gonna have something replacing the fifty aras Player's Last fifty Years list. But before we finally wrap up, we have done callers for all of these episodes, and our wonderful production staff that is an international production staff now

in Los Angeles and across the pond in London. Sometimes they have done a great job getting us great guest for this They usually or sometimes let me preview these. They have not with this one. So let's go to our first caller right now.

great job. Timing is everything, though, wild night for Lebron is maybe a little Taco Tuesday and a six hundred dollars glassomer Low. Meanwhile, Jordan, we have ten Miller lights on the golf course shoot thirty six holes in the morning, then drop forty because it was a Tuesday, and then go to the blackjack tables and be the best scorer and defender and champion of his generation and the best champion of anyone.

from Dean Smith. By the way, most of my own older than Jordan came out of high school. But the other part that Danny said that is just laughable on its face, is, oh, in today's era, we know how to take care of our body. Yes, that's true, but in no era did anyone think that it was a good idea to gamble and drink and smoke cigars all night. Jordan just chose to do it, so that, you know what that argument falls on. Deaf ears my friend. Plus

Danny's from Chicago. Likely he's like all these guys, there's lifelong Jordan fans. They can't get over it. All right, who else do we have? That's my best friend? Who else do we have?

I appreciate it everyone who has watched these videos. We might have a special addition sometime before football season of someone who was on the list, someone who was in the top twenty of the list, joining us for what would just be our second guest ever on the show. Lil Wayne Plus, this person will be our second to you know, go back and forth with me about the list. But aside from that, it is time to put this project to bed. Dior is right. I have spent a

lot of time. I don't know if I've missed family events, but I have been otherwise occupied. So now we set it aside, which is a perfect time to transition into football season. We will talk to you guys on Tuesday. Appreciate you watching for one last time. It is the fifty greatest players of the last fifty years on What's Right with Nick Right