LeBron has never had a 50 point playoff game?

[ILLsmak]

Again, are you people seriously discussing this like it means something?

Lebron has games of 49, 48, and 47 in the playoffs.

50 is not magical. And I can't believe people with enough intellect to type are discussing 50 like it is indeed magical.







And by the way, nobody besides Iverson has eclipsed 51 playoff points since Jordan retired. So, yes, you guys seriously just had a huge discussion about why Lebron never scored 1 more point. Congratulations.

50 point playoff games from others besides Iverson, since Jordan retired:

Ray Allen: 51
Kobe: 50
Dirk: 50
Vince: 50
Malone: 50

Of course 50 is magical. 55 is magical. 45 is magical. Almost doesn't count. It's the subject at hand. It's like saying someone almost had a quad double. It's great and all, but he didn't.

AND he lost by 1 point.


-Smak

[tmacattack33]

Furtherfurthermore, you can take that^ back to 1984 (sorry, that is as far back as basketballreference.com goes) and Lebron will still be third behind Iverson and now Jordan.


Players who have scored 45 plus points in the playoffs since 1984:

Jordan: 23 times ( )
Iverson: 7
Lebron: 6
Kobe: 5
Dirk: 3
Hakeem: 3
D. Wilkins: 3
C. Barkley: 2
Shaq: 2
Ray Allen: 2
Vince: 1
Wade: 1
T-mac: 1
Malone:1
Dwight: 1
Wells: 1
Nash: 1
Ewing: 1
Sleepy Floyd: 1

[tmacattack33]

Of course 50 is magical. 55 is magical. 45 is magical. Almost doesn't count. It's the subject at hand. It's like saying someone almost had a quad double. It's great and all, but he didn't.

AND he lost by 1 point.


-Smak

No. 50 is not magical.

It is a human construct that 50 is in the next group above 49. And in some number systems, it is different.

[ILLsmak]

No. 50 is not magical.

It is a human construct that 50 is in the next group above 49. And in some number systems, it is different.

In basketball 50 is magical. 30 is magical, 20 is magical, double digits is magical. Let's not get into philosophy here (although I'm pretty sure I could argue that 50 is a larger number than 49.)

It's like being 7 foot or 6'11. 49 just ain't cutting it, man. What do people say when they are 49 years old? They are almost 50...

-Smak

[Legends66NBA7]

Again, are you people seriously discussing this like it means something?

50 is not magical.

It's just a trivia question. I'm hoping the OP isn't dumb enough to think LeBron isn't a great playoff scorer.

50+ has only been pulled off by 20 players and only 4 them did it multiple times. That's grand total of 33 times... so in a sense, it's very rare. Or "magical", whatever you want to call it.

And by the way, nobody besides Iverson has eclipsed 51 playoff points since Jordan retired.

You say 50+ isn't magical, then make up own criteria ? Okay.

Furthermore, if you move the bar back to 45, Lebron is in second place since Jordan retired.

Again, making up your own criteria ?

And I would say that nobody cares about 45+ or 35+... They usually care about 30+, 40+, etc... That's why you see lists of 30+ point games or 40+ point games in the regular season/playoffs/finals being brought up than 35+ or 45 instead.

I hope anyone who has posted in this thread now feels like a complete idiot.

For what ? It's trivia question, more than anything.

OP is probably a troll and got you worked up... making up new criteria, like anybody in the thread (a non-troll) questioned that James isn't a great scorer.

[tmacattack33]

You say 50+ isn't magical, then make up own criteria ? Okay..

I used that stat (that nobody has eclipsed 51 other than iverson) to point out that there weren't any others who scored 57 or 59 or whatever, since 57 or 59 would indeed be significantly more than Lebron's 49 and 48 point games.

[OldSchoolBBall]

If Lebron went into full scorer's mode, like I'm sure all of the guys above did, he would definitely be right there with Jordan already in terms of 50 point playoff games. Lebron has seven games already where he was over 40 with seven or more assist.

Nonsense. Jordan also had 10 games of 40+/7+ (not including his 8 games of 50+) - I guess we can just say that he would have had 18 games of 50+ had he gone into "full scorer's mode" in those games, right? It doesn't work like that.

[Legends66NBA7]

I used that stat (that nobody has eclipsed 51 other than iverson) to point out that there weren't any others who scored 57 or 59 or whatever, since 57 or 59 would indeed be significantly more than Lebron's 49 and 48 point games.

Well I think the only ones who have scored over 57-59+ are Baylor and Jordan... so 60+ is more rare and magical. It's been done only twice.

Yes, I don't think anybody has hit 57 or 59 exactly and I get the point arguing this is a bit silly. I would rather just look at consistent scoring over a peak scoring game.

[Pointguard]

Nonsense. Jordan also had 10 games of 40+/7+ (not including his 8 games of 50+) - I guess we can just say that he would have had 18 games of 50+ had he gone into "full scorer's mode" in those games, right? It doesn't work like that.

Either you didn't see Jordan play or you just don't know what you are talking about. Jordan rarely was out of full scorer's mode (but could still pile up assist in that mode). Lebron is rarely in full scorer's mode. Either you see it or you just don't have the sophistication. I tend to believe its both with you

[Da_Realist]

MJ did it back-to-back in 1989 vs Cleveland. 50 points in Game 1, then 55 in Game 2.

It's crazy to think, but MJ actually held back quite a bit. He could have racked up more 50 point games easily. Off the top of my head...

Game 1 vs Portland is a good one. Had 35 points at halftime and then only scored 4 points the rest of the way. He sort of cruised to 46 in Game 5.

Game 3 vs Philly in 1990. Scored 49 points but most of the damage was done in the fourth when it looked like the Bulls were going down too easily. Was setting up his teammates for most of the time before that.

Any first round game he ever played in (except for maaaaaaybeee 1995) could have been an opportunity for 50+. His 56 point game against Miami in 92 might have been his easiest 50+ playoff game.

There are plenty of 45+ games that could have been easily 50+ (like most players), but MJ had 35+ games that just as easily could have been 50+. Look at the first round vs Atlanta in 1993. 35 in Game 1 shooting 58% from the field. Only played 29 minutes. That's just a little over 2 quarters of work. He then threw up 39 in Game 3 shooting 57%.

[OldSchoolBBall]

MJ did it back-to-back in 1989 vs Cleveland. 50 points in Game 1, then 55 in Game 2.

It's crazy to think, but MJ actually held back quite a bit. He could have racked up more 50 point games easily. Off the top of my head...

Game 1 vs Portland is a good one. Had 35 points at halftime and then only scored 4 points the rest of the way. He sort of cruised to 46 in Game 5.

Game 3 vs Philly in 1990. Scored 49 points but most of the damage was done in the fourth when it looked like the Bulls were going down too easily. Was setting up his teammates for most of the time before that.

Any first round game he ever played in (except for maaaaaaybeee 1995) could have been an opportunity for 50+. His 56 point game against Miami in 92 might have been his easiest 50+ playoff game.

There are plenty of 45+ games that could have been easily 50+ (like most players), but MJ had 35+ games that just as easily could have been 50+. Look at the first round vs Atlanta. 35 in Game 1 shooting 58% from the field. Only played 29 minutes. That's just a little over 2 quarters of work. He then threw up 39 in Game 3 shooting 57%.

These cats just don't know. And worse, they're trying to act like Lebron could score just as well as MJ "if he wanted to," which is ridiculous.

[Da_Realist]

Either you didn't see Jordan play or you just don't know what you are talking about. Jordan rarely was out of full scorer's mode (but could still pile up assist in that mode). Lebron is rarely in full scorer's mode. Either you see it or you just don't have the sophistication. I tend to believe its both with you

You're right in the sense that MJ was in "full scorer's mode" way more often than Lebron. The hangup is that MJ's assault would often put teams out of their misery early -- allowing him to rest or spend the rest of the time distributing. MJ had full scorer's mode and then turbo scorer's mode. Dude could rack up 20+ quarters against anyone if he was feeling it. Usually, turbo didn't last all game or he would have racked up a few 70+ outings. I'm talking playoff games here...

He was at his best during the same time that the team was at it's best (90-92 ish) so he didn't have to turn on that turbo mode for as long or as consistently as he did in the late 80's.

[DatAsh]

Either you didn't see Jordan play or you just don't know what you are talking about. Jordan rarely was out of full scorer's mode (but could still pile up assist in that mode). Lebron is rarely in full scorer's mode. Either you see it or you just don't have the sophistication. I tend to believe its both with you

You're delusional if you think Lebron is as good of a scorer as MJ was.

Similarly, you're delusional if you think MJ is as good of a passer/playmaker as Lebron.

[Pointguard]

These cats just don't know. And worse, they're trying to act like Lebron could score just as well as MJ "if he wanted to," which is ridiculous.

Magic could have scored 25ppg in a half of dozen playoffs if he wanted to. Did he? Heck he rarely averaged 20 ppg. But if you have a clue, you would know better. Magic went the set up man route. Lebron is a mixture of Jordan and Magic. Rarely ever is Lebron in full scoring mode.

Don't get me wrong Jordan was the best ever. Does that mean he will be the best scorer forever? No not really. If the league wanted to help Durant out, I really believe he could be a higher scorer over their primes. Not necessarily a better scorer but a more prolific one. I know that is taxing you a bit too much. But its a reality. You all see it as saying Lebron upping Jordan in some way but I'm not concerning myself with that. I never said that and don't care about that. The conversation is about Lebron never having 50 point games. If you honestly think Lebron wouldn't have had 5, fifty point games you are totally crazy. Two, if you think Lebron having more 50 point games than Jordan in the playoffs threatens Jordans number one spot or relegates him, you miss the value of Jordan's game.

Over the last four years, if Lebron was in full in full scoring mode like Durant was, Lebron would have had three more scoring titles. And if you don't see that I don't know what you are seeing. But Durant will likely have more scoring records than Jordan before its all said and done. Will it make him better???

[Pointguard]

You're delusional if you think Lebron is as good of a scorer as MJ was.

Similarly, you're delusional if you think MJ is as good of a passer/playmaker as Lebron.

You're delusinal if you think I ever said anything lke that. Folks are delusional if they think that Lebron goes Kobe/MJ mode when he gets 30 points in his 24th minute. You all are flat out lying or crazy if you ever saw that. They simply have totally different mentalities at that point.