LeBron James

Lore & Background

LeBron James carried the Cavaliers through a grueling postseason that culminated in their maiden trip to the NBA Finals. After sweeping the Washington Wizards in the First Round, the team defeated the New Jersey Nets in six games during the Semi-finals. The journey continued against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the conference finals. Facing a 0–2 deficit after losses by identical scores in Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, James led the comeback with close victories in Cleveland for Games 3 and 4.

In Their Own Story

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pistons remains one of the most memorable postseason games in recent NBA history. After a double-overtime thriller on the road, LeBron James scored a playoff career-high 48 points, including scoring all 18 points for Cleveland during overtime to secure a two-point win at the Palace. He finished the game by scoring the Cavaliers' final 25 points of the contest. The series concluded in Game 6 back in Cleveland, where rookie Daniel Gibson scored a career-high 31 points, lifting the team behind a roaring home crowd to clinch the Eastern Conference title and the franchise's first trip to the NBA Finals.

Reader's Guide

LeBron James was the undisputed engine of this historic run, serving as the team's leading scorer throughout the playoffs. His performance in Game 5 against Detroit set or tied multiple franchise playoff records, including points in a game (48), field goals made and attempted (18 of 33), and points in overtime (9). During the regular season, James was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week twice and Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March. He also became the youngest player in NBA history to score 7,000 career points on December 23 and later 8,000 points on March 14. Despite his individual brilliance, finishing fifth in league MVP voting, the Cavaliers fell to the experienced San Antonio Spurs in a four-game sweep in the Finals.

Did You Know?

• LeBron James became the youngest player in NBA history to score 7,000 career points at 21 years and 359 days old on December 23.
• In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron scored all 18 of Cleveland's points during overtime to secure a double-overtime victory.
• Rookie Daniel Gibson set a franchise playoff record for rookie points in a game with 31 during the clinching Game 6 against Detroit.
• The Cavaliers swept their first-ever playoff series by defeating the Washington Wizards, aided by injuries to Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.
• LeBron James received 2,516,049 votes for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, the second most in NBA history at that time.