if you could select any version of LeBron James which one are you choosing the 2009 Twitchy highflying volume scorer in Cleveland how about villain LeBron at his athletic peak in Miami or maybe 2016 Braun with his blend of experience and offensive versatility you really can't go wrong with any of them but without question I'm taking 2018 LeBron his combination of elite athleticism razor sharp IQ unpredictable playmaking and his ability to take over in the clutch was surreal it was like every version of LeBron thrown into one and he needed all of it to single-handedly carry
his team to where no one thought possible 2018 LeBron unlocked Mastery of the game of basketball and this is how he did it facing LeBron in 2018 was simply terrifying the dude was driven by Vengeance and the reason is because well actually it'd be easier just to show you after winning his hometown a historic championship in 2016 he and Kyrie Irving were viewed as the League's Premier Duo there's no way this would be their last title together except it was Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors during the 2016 off season and the league
was cooked Cleveland would face them in the 2017 finals and get smoked in five on his way back to the locker room disappoint pointed yet confident LeBron daps of Kyrie and tells him we'll be back but in reality only one of them would be back just four weeks later Kyrie Demands a trade out of Cleveland with reports stating that he no longer wants to be in LeBron's Shadow one month later he was gone I can only imagine that LeBron felt disrespected and betrayed he was left alone to carry the Cavaliers and there was no doubt
that it fueled him because because in 2018 the dude was a full-on [Music] demigod opening night for LeBron and the Cavs was straight to business a match up against the Boston Celtics and the new face of their franchise but James cooked he lit up the cease for 29 16 and9 with 13 of those in the fourth quarter Kyrie misses a three over LeBron to tie the game at the buzzer they DB up one last time and the LeBron Cary job begins well actually this was just the opening act game nine of the Season against the
Washington Wizards is when it truly began James all the way and the Finish James goes back door inside count it and one James drives in hard finishes and one eight to shoot sets for three puts it in five James backs in turns toward the Baseline low shots good and the foul 56 points of count 57 57 you know this fuy wasn't supposed to go on for much longer yet here he is at 33 years old dropping the second highest scoring performance of his career alongside 11 boards seven dimes three Steals and a couple blocks he
is not Human by this point Cleveland was just four and five on the season but LeBron's performance sparked a little bit of magic a clutch time dagger at the Garden and Cleveland's on a two- game winning streak 39 and 14 make that 4-0 276 and 13 and the Cavs are 7-0 34- 12 and Cleveland's on an 11 game winning streak and with a chance to make it a franchise record 13th straight against Sacramento LeBron comes up big he Scoops home a layup to go up two and then drains a dagger three with 15 seconds left
for their 13th consecutive win the King was still the King LeBron was stuffing the stat sheet on a nightly basis like he was a spry 27-year-old in his prime except he was 33 without an All-Star teammate by his side and even that didn't slow him down as they entered mid December Cleveland was a flaming hot 19-2 in their last 21 games and it launched LeBron into the MVP conversation sitting right behind James Harden in the NBA's MVP ladder and now with a game lined up on Christmas Day against the defending NBA champs a win can
put LeBron as the front runner for MVP but instead he and the Cavs went from flaming hot to ice cold James didn't have a great game on Christmas and it began a downward spiral from December 25th to February 6th Cleveland went 6 and 13 LeBron was still putting up numbers but the team around him was dysfunctional they were too slow too old and just a couple days out from the trade deadline you knew something was going to change they don't call him Li GM for nothing however a day before the deadline they play the Minnesota
Timberwolves and LeBron decided to put on a show for his soon to be ex teammates James P it down James able to swivel it home between two Defenders by Butler now shakes pass him James James trying to shake fre Wiggins does and Hees it with 4 seconds left Butler Den by James and Smith calls a timeout green looking to the front courner here's LeBron [Music] James game he did it LeBron James wins it for Cleveland 37115 a game tying layup a game saving block cap off off by a game-winning fadeaway and celebrating with his teammates
that would get traded less than 24 hours later I'm not even kidding the Cavs blew it up the very next day to get younger trading six guys with an average age of 30 for four players with an average age of 26 it wasn't a superstar or even an Allstar for that matter but they gave LeBron something to play with and he started balling as the calendar flipped to March LeBron was slowly turning into playoff Braun he averaged over 39 and9 on a blistering 55% shooting with 9 30-point games and four triple doubles in the month
the dude was a highlight machine jaw-dropping one-legged fadeaways in the clutch to close out Games Catching bodies that should have them arrested for first-degree murder and no look dimes in La that had him looking like Magic Johnson LeBron's all-around game was at its absolute Peak he was virtually unguardable highlighted by another Masterpiece in April a 44-point triple double against the 76ers for his League leading 32nd 30-point game of the season now here's the problem they didn't win that game despite LeBron's greatness the team around him was just average if he doesn't play well they have
almost no chance of winning if he drops a 40p point triple double winning is still not a guarantee and it showed in the St standings the Cavs were the third seed for the majority of the year before slipping down to fourth in the final week of the Season Landing them a tougher opponent in the first round of the playoffs and basically killing LeBron's MVP case he finished second in voting as James Harden walked away with the award in a landslide the case was made for LeBron but it didn't matter anymore the playoffs were around the
corner and the King was about to show the league who's the real MVP as the fourth seat in the East Cleveland faced a legit Indiana Squad in round one and it was a wakeup call the Pacers trampled them by 18 points on their home court in game one Indie was no joke and Braun knew it so in the first quarter of game two he made a statement he erupted for 20 points in the frame and he didn't stop there finishing the game with 46 12 and five on 70% shooting from the field to tie the
series at one but back in Indiana the Pacers escaped game three with a two-point win to go up 2-1 and you know what that means we're about to get another Masterpiece from LeBron 32 points 13 rebounds and seven assists to tie the series at two James was putting up video game numbers like it was nothing and in game five at home he turned on Aimbot theot matched up with James five to shoot on the dep makes his move to the rim oh it's by James time out Cleveland and with three seconds left Cleveland triggers in
James two seconds 1 second for the wi LeBron James delivers that's a winner in Cleveland I thought this fuy wasn't supposed to go on for much longer and this dude is nailing game-winning threes of the buzzer to go with 44 points 10 boards and eight dimes you know something light but I'll tell you what wasn't light game six in Indiana the Cavs got smoked by 34 points and now shockingly a LeBron Le team is going to a game seven in round one but the result of that game seven wasn't much of a shocker James threw
on his backpack and went to work exploding for 26 in the first half and from that point on you knew was over he finished the game with 45 for his third I repeat his third 40-point game of this series to carry his team into the second round and you want to know a crazy stat about this series LeBron did not have a single teammate score more than 20 points in any game throughout the series the literal definition of carrying his team james' Brilliance set up a daunting matchup against the number one seed Toronto Raptors in
the second round round the third consecutive playoff matchup that is between these two squads and I think you know how the story goes they don't call him lebronto for nothing down D rozan there's that fade away and it's but right now backing down Lowry P still sizzling come on he's going to have his way here LeBron Fades away over seak James hold on we're speechless Brown seconds go throws up the FL good night Cleveland that is for you what did you expect he's lebronto after dismantling the wraps in Toronto with nasty fadeaways he Nails An
Elegant one-legged fading Runner off glass to win game three and take Toronto soul I mean look at some of these reactions it was over they killed the wraps by 35 in game four to complete the sweep and for the eighth consecutive season LeBron is back in the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Boston Celtics unfortunately Kyrie was out for the series due to injuries but don't take anything away from the celtics' young core they were a problem Tatum drives down throws it down wow game one was a major slap in the face to LeBron and
the cabs they lost by 25 points and Braun had it rough 15 points on seven of 16 shooting in seven turnovers but as we've seen this postseason the dude responds every time in the first quarter of game two his jumper was butter he was knocking down long range missiles sweeping hooks like a prime kareim and opposite shoulder ER fading threes for a 21o first quarter he was Unstoppable he'd finished the game with a 42o triple double and they still lost by double digits Cleveland was in serious trouble in fact as a franchise the Boston Celtics
are 37 and0 all time when leading a series to nothing this is bad but I swear I've seen a similar graphic like this before anything's possible in game three the Cavs answered then in game four LeBron did with a 44-point bomb for his sixth 40-point game of the playoffs and just like that the series is tied but in game five Boston responded as they put the Cavs on the brink of elimination LeBron is going to have to do something crazy to will his team to two straight wins and in this case crazy is actually an
understatement the king tap into another dimension in game six finishing at the cup cashing in spot up threes lacing home mid-range Fades he was on one but with just a few minutes left the Celtics cut the lead to single digits LeBron is in trouble James Drive steps back puts up a three bang LeBron steps tries it again puts it in as the shot clock expires LeBron James with 44 timeout [Applause] Boston with two monster threes in a Sweet Spot LeBron seals the deal with his seventh 40-point game of the postseason to force a game seven
in Boston and if you know anything about game seven LeBron then you know what's about to happen three onone break for Boston roier to the basket oh blocked by James he did it again between the legs Drive continues off balance BS at home taken by James Here Comes James in the open floor James gra from behind count it Go and one and it's up to nine with 104 remaining 35 15 and9 capped off by a powerful and one with a primal scream to miraculously get his team to the NBA finals LeBron was Superman against the
Celtics but next up up he'll have to face his CP [Music] tonight when the Warriors and Cavs faced off in 2017 Cleveland realistically had no chance of winning and that was with Kyrie fast forward to a year later and you got just LeBron with a weaker Supporting Cast the writing was on the wall but we should keep in mind that Braun's been playing the best basketball of his career and with all these 40-point games he's due to go for [Music] 50 James drives Curry gets inside and throws it down Boston s Houston James drives and
finishes to see him back on the floor James drives past Livingston and throws it down James fires a three that's good I'm shocked you down played savanas he said she was all City James again from down up James eight to shoot James driv shot block count it and one LeBron James puts the Cs up one with a free throw coming [Music] up in my opinion this is the single greatest game of LeBron's career 51 points the fifth most ever in the finals eight rebounds and eight assists against the mighty Golden State Warriors in the NBA
Finals he was the definition of unguardable and after Draymond poked him in the eye in the second quarter he was looking like a legit super villain out there dude it was insane but this game isn't over LeBron's effort got the Cavs within one with 4 seconds left and George Hill is at the line to shoot two free throws he Nails the first and [Applause] then Hill misses rebound goes to the cabs JR Smith brings it back out throws it the hill hill shot blocked and will go to overtime time you get the feeling Jr still
thought they had the lead Jr was Jr he thought they had the lead he dribbled the ball out to kill the clock and butchered a chance to win the game LeBron was uh pissed to say the least he knows you cannot give Golden State any chance to survive and they just did the game went into overtime where the Warriors outscored the Cavs by 10 to take game one and what was Cleveland's only chance in this series from then on Golden State took care of business sweeping the Cavaliers with ease and ending LeBron's otherworldly 2018 season
although it ended without a championship what LeBron was able to accomplish throughout this year and especially in the postseason is still viewed as one of if not the single greatest playoff run by an individual player ever at 33 this might be it for LeBron father time is finally going to catch up I'll say it again he'll never have a greater achievement than getting this team to the [Music] [Music] finals this historic 2020 NBA championship belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James a shot in history no one person has ever shouldered more and gotten his
team to the finals [Music]
