In 2007, LeBron James was in his fourth NBA season, and although he was already in the discussion for being arguably the best player in the game, his Cleveland Cavaliers were only a slightly above average team.
No one else on the squad averaged at least 15 points a game, and their second-highest scorer, Larry Hughes, only posted a 14.9 points per game average.
Still, James led Cleveland to the Eastern Conference Finals, where it faced the Detroit Pistons, who had won the NBA championship just three years earlier.
But the Pistons were not exactly the team they recently were. Big man Ben Wallace, perhaps the most important part of their suffocating defense, was gone, and so was head coach Larry Brown, the man who guided them to the title in ’04.
Now that Detroit was merely another good team, James saw an opportunity. After the Cavs lost the first two games of the series, they took the next two, setting up a pivotal Game 5 in Michigan.
With a tight contest hanging in the balance, James put forth perhaps his first historic performance, scoring the Cavs’ last 25 points, including the game-winning shot with 2.2 seconds left in double overtime.
He finished with 48 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Armed with a 3-2 series lead, the Cavs then finished the Pistons in Game 6, 98-82, to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time.
Although they got swept there by the San Antonio Spurs, it was now clear that James was more than the typical NBA superstar or franchise player.
