LeBron James has delivered plenty of memorable playoff moments throughout his brilliant 12-year NBA career. But ask King James about the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and his Cleveland Cavaliers, entering Thursday's Game 1, and he'll tell you that this is his best postseason yet.
"I think if you put it all together, yeah," James told ESPN of all his postseasons. "If you put everything together as far as my mind, my body, my game. If you put everything in one bottle, this is probably the best I've been."
Not that we won't take LeBron's word for it, but Tech Times is going to let the stats talk with this one.
Taking a look at the king's 10 postseasons on these charts from ESPN, including this current one — LeBron is averaging his fifth-best points mark of 27.6 and playoff career-highs in rebounds (10.4) and assists (8.3). But taking an even closer look, LeBron's 42.8 shooting percentage from the field in these playoffs is one of his worst marks throughout his career.
And get this... his 17.6 shooting clip from beyond the arc is the all-time playoff worst mark for any postseason player who has put up at least 60 three-point attempts. Wow!
All said, King James is still on pace to finish this postseason with well over 500 points, which would put the 2015 playoffs in his Top 5 finishes for point production.
Inspecting James's miscellaneous stats shows his scoring and shooting efficiency are among the bottom half of his all-time playoff numbers. His overall rating of 43.38 is the lowest of his career. (It's scary when LeBron has a career-low and he's still better than anybody in the league, isn't it?)
The bottom line: despite LeBron's declaration, this is NOT his best postseason yet. While the near-triple-double that he's posting during these playoffs is nothing short of remarkable, his shooting percentage is low and the three-point clip within is horrendous.
Still, even though we don't agree with James, he's still the best player in the NBA. Few would argue that. In addition, while this may not be his very best postseason yet, it's definitely the best playoff leadership that he's ever exhibited throughout his NBA career. Fair enough?
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