As Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić prepares for his first appearance in the NBA Finals, LeBron James reflected back on the first time he made it to the biggest stage in basketball in 2007.
On the latest episode of the Mind the Game podcast (starts at 6:30 mark), James admitted he “didn’t even know what was going on” during that run with the Cleveland Cavaliers because he was only 22 and wanted to “take in as much information as I possibly can” without overcomplicating himself by thinking too much.
Even though James had been in the league for four seasons at that point, the 2007 playoffs was a breakthrough moment for him.
It was the second straight year the Cavs made the postseason after losing to the Detroit Pistons in seven games in the 2006 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Detroit was the class of the East at that point and were in the midst of making the conference finals in six straight seasons from 2002-03 to 2007-08. They made the NBA Finals in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004, winning in 2003.
After falling behind 2-0 in the series, the Cavs stormed back to win four straight games. James turned in one of the best performances in playoff history in Game 5 with 48 points in a 109-107 double-overtime win. He scored the last 25 points for Cleveland, including all 18 between the two overtime periods.
Cleveland’s victory over the Pistons sent the franchise to its first NBA Finals. The Cavaliers wound up being swept by a San Antonio Spurs team that was still in the midst of their dynasty with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all the prime of their careers.
Things would get better for James after that, as he has since won four NBA titles and four MVP awards. He eventually led the Cavs to a championship in 2016 with a memorable seven-game series win over the Golden State Warriors.
