LeBron James Passes Michael Jordan on Longstanding NBA Playoff Record

 

LeBron James Passes Michael Jordan on Longstanding NBA Playoff Record

The Miami Heat handled the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals last night, leading the game from start to finish. LeBron James scored 32 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out five assists in win. A solid stat line, but typical for the greatness of James. However, this game puts the 10-time All-Star and four-time MVP on top of an elite list of playoff performances. 

This was LeBron's 74th game with at least 25 points, five rebounds, and five assists in his playoff career, breaking a tie with Michael Jordan for the most such games in NBA postseason history. So even though, MJ is still a superior player in the eyes of most, this is a solid list for James to be on top of. Also, with Lebron just being 29 years old and still in his prime, there are sure to be many other records broken by the time his career comes to a close. 

This list does add fuel to the debate regarding LeBron's place among the greatest players of all-time, especially as such an all-around complete player on both ends of the court. MJ achieved his 73 performances in 179 career playoff games, or 40.8 percent. LeBron, however, now has 74 in 151 games, or 49 percent. Lebron tied Bird with 53 (for second on the list) on June 1, 2012, against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. Now, it will be just to see how high James can push that number up with several more playoff postseasons left in his career. 

Lebron is one of four players in history to average that mark for a career (alongside Jordan, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson) and has done so in 378 of his 842 games, or 44.9 percent. 

James and the Heat are currently up 3-1 on the Pacers after last nights victory. The Heat are looking to make more history by making it to 4 straight NBA Finals. Only the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have made it to four straight NBA Finals and no team since the mid 1980's. 

If the San Antonio Spurs come out of the West, it would be a highly anticipated rematch of last year's great NBA Finals in which the Spurs thought they should have beat the Heat to win the Championship. 

 

 

Tags : lebron james michael jordan lebron james all time playoff record nba NBA playoffs lebron james michael jordan miami heat indiana pacers boston celtics los angeles lakers