In 2007, LeBron James showed one of the most legendary performances in NBA history in the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons. Game 5 of the Conference Finals will forever be remembered as the day the East got a new king.
LeBron James has had many legendary nicknames in his long career. “L-Train”, “The Akron Hammer” and “The Chosen One” all come from his early career, but the only and perhaps most legendary nickname that has survived to this day is “The King”.
Even during high school, the name “King James” appeared, like his childhood friend Randy Mims in an interview with Uninterrupteds “More Than An Athlete” verriet.
“He won the state championship in his freshman year and a couple of kids were running around the hotel talking about a ‘King James’. So I asked one of them and he said to me,’ You don’t know King James? LeBron James! ‘”
Mims told his buddy about this encounter, who could only laugh about it. “That was when I realized what a big thing LeBron was,” Mims said.
It was clear from the first second that LeBron would also be a big number in the NBA. It took a few years for the name “King James” to establish itself in the best basketball league in the world.
LeBron James: A Palace for a King
LeBron had to wait three years after the 2003 draft before he was allowed to sniff the playoff air on the big NBA stage for the first time. Just a year later, he was already leading the Cavs into the Conference Finals against the Pistons. After four spectacular games it was 2-2 in the series. Up until now, none of the games had been decided by more than six points. Game 1 and 2 went to the favored team from Mo-Town, which was rolled over the Magic and Bulls as the No. 1 seed.
In Game 1, the Cavs had a chance of victory, but LeBron didn’t dare to play the potential game winner with just a few seconds on the clock and gave the ball to Donyell Marshall, who missed. In game 2, it was James himself who put a try from a good two meters with five seconds on the clock for the possible victory at the ring.
After the 2-0 lead, Detroit was already full of cheers. How the Pistons, one of the best defensive teams in the league, kept James in check was reminiscent of the bad boys of the 80s who kept making MJ’s life hell. 10 points in game 1 and 19 in game 2 were not worthy of the youngster, who had an average of 27.3 points in the regular season.
“On the drive home I was sure that this series was over. LeBron was broken,” wrote journalist Brad Callas (medium) once. Oh, how wrong he was. 32 and 25 points from James in Games 3 and 4 at the Quicken Loans Arena were enough to tie the series. So it went back to Detroit for Game 5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. And the palace was ready for the king’s coronation.
