During the NBA’s indefinite hiatus, I will be rewatching every game of LeBron’s NBA Finals career. Every Finals game from the last 20 years is available to NBA League Pass subscribers on the NBA app or through apps like YouTube TV. We will be going chronologically through LeBron’s Finals career. 

Previous Games

Game 1, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals game.

Game 2, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron bounces back but falls down 0-2.

Game 3, 2007 NBA Finals: LeBron gets the last shot but it doesn’t go.

Game 4, 2007 NBA Finals: Staying home.

Game 1, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron’s first Finals victory.

Game 2, 2011 NBA Finals: Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead.

Game 3, 2011 NBA Finals: Bosh game-winner helps put Heat up 2-1.

Game 4, 2011 NBA Finals: LeBron has 8 points in Finals loss

LeBron James just played what will be regarded as the worst NBA Finals game of his career. He had just eight points in Game 4 and was more of a defender and ball mover than he was a superstar player. The Mavericks crowd smells blood now. And the Mavericks may too. Dirk Nowitzki is feeling much better after being ill in Game 4. Playing under such circumstances has a different tone in times of coronavirus but this type of effort is the type of stuff that legends have been made of.

Whatever you may think about what got Michael Jordan sick before Game 5 of the 1997 Finals, The Flu Game became an iconic moment and one that is referenced anytime a player is sick. Game 4 did that for Dirk. The myth of the ill superstar in a time of need is a well-worn NBA story, but one that the Miami Heat didn’t much enjoy entertaining, as they saw the narrative coalescing around the other team’s best player. After this game, Dwyane Wade, who had been the star of the series, would make that clear for everyone to know.

A large part of LeBron’s low point totals was the Mavs committing to double-teams on LeBron basically anytime he got a post-up or a pick-and-roll. The Heat are still playing Joel Anthony and Bosh too much together, especially in a series where they’re getting outshot from the 3-point line fly such a wide margin, which doesn’t help. Then LeBron does himself no favors by airmailing a left-handed floater, something that truthfully has never been a big part of his game. I’m going to save the armchair psychology for someone else but just by judging the basketball, LeBron James just doesn’t look like his best self.

“I understand what is at stake,” James said heading into Game 5, which they show on the broadcast. “This is a big game, probably the biggest game of my life. I’m approaching it that way. Not probably, it is.”

And then to provide a snapshot of the moment, showing just how closely dissected James and the Heat were, Van Gundy and Mark Jackson get into a real argument about whether LeBron’s quote is actually true. This is the type of environment that followed the Heat everywhere. LeBron breaks that up with a thunderous slam dunk as he ran a streak pattern but the Mavs continue to pummel the Heat with efficiency. DeShawn Stevenson, who is LeBron’s noted enemy since 2008, just got his knee drained but Stevenson also had another quote to sum up the thoughts of the moment that LeBron “checked out,” in Game 4. Was it an exaggeration? Sure. But that did not matter, because the Mavs were strategic in their words off the court as they were with their execution on it. Between Stevenson and Jason Terry talking trash about the Heat or Dirk calling out Terry in the press, the Mavs have gotten an incredible return on their quotes in this series.

Dallas leads 15-8 now as Dirk is looking good, now with the momentum on his team’s side and the myth of a flu game in the NBA Finals to boot. We are on the precipice of Dirk’s legend becoming crystalized forever. LeBron comes through with a monster block to shake the Heat out of it and his defense in this series has been incredible. But the Heat’s scrambling defense, predicated on traps, is getting picked apart by the smart passing of the Mavs and the spacing. This time the devastation comes in the form of Brian Cardinal.

But the Heat get their own old man contribution as Juwan Howard hits a couple of midrange shots to keep pace with the Mavs, which sets up a Mario Chalmers buzzer-beater from half court, putting Miami up 31-30 after the first quarter.

The Heat are up 47-44 in large part due to Chalmers, who is subbed out mid-quarter in favor of Eddie House, who has not played at all in the Finals to this point. Right now it feels like the Heat have a little momentum, even as Wade plays hurt. This is also probably part of the reason he got so upset with the romanticism of Dirk’s illness, but that’s what happens when you win. House clanks a 3-pointer created by LeBron shortly after coming in, though the entire Heat bench was standing up trying to will it in. Then House has an airball, 2008 Celtics, this is not. Wow and then he just commits an offensive foul. House then gets benched. Tough scene and it’s really not his fault. He wasn’t ready for this. This is on Spoelstra, who got a little too desperate in his search for a veteran spark. But let this be a lesson to everyone: you don’t become one of the most respected coaches in the NBA overnight and not without some mistakes.

Mike Miller starts the 3rd quarter in Wade’s place while Wade continues to get treatment on his bum hip that took him out for a chunk of the 1st half. With LeBron the main threat, the Mavs are even more aggressive in double-teaming him when he catches the ball in the post. But the Mavs make the wrong help, helping off of Miller and LeBron makes them pay. Now we cut to Doris Burke who is in front of a closed-door Miami Heat locker room. Then James gets a match-up on Dirk and he takes a more natural shot, with his lunging fadeaway in the paint. But while LeBron is turning things up a bit, Nowitzki is continuing to drain rainbow shots and the Mavs have started 7 for 11 from the 3-point line.

LeBron does look to be a little freer with Wade out of the game and the Heat having more shooters on the court. But the problem for Miami is coming on the other end as JJ Barea is breaking Mike Bibby down off the dribble to get his 7th and 8th points of the third quarter. And now the dramatic shot of Wade walking out of the Heat locker room onto the floor in Dallas while the Heat are down 75-71 with 4:33 left. But as the series was decided, Jason Kidd now hits a 3-pointer to give the Mavs a 78-71 lead. Then Kidd finds a wide-open Chandler under the rim and the lead is now 80-71. It’s pretty nice having a two-time MVP on your team be your fourth or fifth best player. Meanwhile, Jason Terry continues to be a thorn in the side of the Heat as he is 6 for 9 from the field. Nicely done.

The Mavs lead 84-79 heading into the 4th quarter for the first time this series, in a pivotal Game 5. Juwan Howard then comes down extremely hard on what would definitely be a flagrant foul today but was just a common foul in 2011 on Stevenson. And Barea is continuing to slice the Mavs up as he and Terry have led helped create a more balanced attack with dribble penetration in the games that Dallas has won in this series. The Heat get a little closer but then Barea comes up with another back-breaker from 3 to make it 93-88. Heat steal with a LeBron assist to Wade makes it a 93-90 game.

The Mavs finally settle down and get the ball to Dirk, who draws a foul. LeBron then gets another assist to Haslem, his 8th of the game. Then a steal by Wade against Marion and then LeBron dimes up Wade again. 95-94 Heat and LeBron now has a triple-double. Game 4 was bad, but the 2nd half of Game 5 may have been the best half LeBron has played since Game 1. Then a Haslem dunk gives them a 96-95 lead. Can they pull it off? Dirk’s free-throw line fadeaway against Haslem rims off, then Wade with a 3 to go up 99-95.

Then Bosh splits free-throws to make it 100-97. And guess what happens next? What has happened seemingly all series, the Mavs erase their mistakes with the 3-point shot. Then LeBron takes midrange shot with no momentum, misses and Dirk gets a dunk on the other end. Just like that, it’s 102-100, then LeBron bowls Tyson Chandler over. What had been a good half of basketball from LeBron, in a game where he ends with a triple-double, is being undone in a handful of poor decisions towards the end of the game. The Mavs then blew the game open.

Then another Kidd 3-pointer makes it 105-100 with 1:26 left. Then Jason Terry hit a ridiculous, Dame Lillard type 3-pointer over LeBron to make it 108-100 with 30 seconds left. Now I think you have more of an idea why LeBron ended Jason Terry the way he did less than two years later. And the Heat have lost two games in a row for the first time in all of the 2011 playoffs.

It looked like Miami was taking control, but the 3-pointer and Dirk brought the Mavs back again, this time, with the lead for the first time in the series. Now LeBron and the Heat will go home with their season on the line in the next game. And things would only get weirder after Dwyane Wade’s postgame jokes about Dirk Nowitzki’s illness brought the villainy of the 2011 Heat to its peak moment.