Do y’all remember where you were when LeBron stared elimination in the eyes and delivered perhaps his greatest and most important game to this day?
I was on a school bus as a high school senior headed to grad night. I remember following the play-by-play on my phone not truly believing what the ESPN app was showing me. Another LeBron basket? Another dunk? Thirty points in the first half???
And it somehow only got less believable when I got home and finally was able to watch the highlights, as James’ numb face and cold-blooded demeanor lifted Miami over Boston at the TD Garden to force a Game 7.
The 45-point performance didn’t just save the Heat’s season, it likely saved the Big 3.
For context, this all went down in Year 2 of the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh trio. Year 1 ended in disappointment as Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Heat in the NBA Finals. Another season without a championship, or even an appearance in the Finals, would have been disastrous.
Who knows what would have happened after that if Miami went home early. No need to speculate, though. LeBron went off and it potentially changed his career.
Miami will need one of these on Friday from somebody. pic.twitter.com/r4xyvcRAlk
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) May 26, 2022
Miami faces another 3-2 deficit in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics at TD Garden. Will any Heat player have a season-saving performance?
[mm-video type=video id=01g43dv9gx4df8z2p599 playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g43dv9gx4df8z2p599/01g43dv9gx4df8z2p599-da639af555aa8246c4ef91a3817de4af.jpg]
[listicle id=1902917]