By the Numbers: LeBron James is having a post-season for the ages

LeBron James poured in 35/15/9 while playing all 48 minutes as the Cleveland Cavaliers booked their ticket to the NBA Finals with a 87-79 win over the Boston Celtics.

Eight straight NBA Finals.

It’s an absurd achievement in today’s pro sports landscape, but as routine as it’s become for us to watch a living legend continually dominate on basketball’s biggest stage, it’s important to not lose sight of how ridiculously good LeBron James has been for so many years.

Let’s take a step back and put his reign into context: The last time James didn’t appear in a championship series, Toy Story 3 was being released in theatres, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” single led Canadian music charts, Jose Bautista had his breakout season with the Toronto Blue Jays, and Rasho Nesterovic was still on the Toronto Raptors‘ roster.

Since 2011, eleven different NFL teams have played in the Super Bowl; Eleven MLB teams have played in the World Series; And once the puck drops on Monday night, eleven different NHL teams will have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals.

And it’s not just that James has played in the Finals for the past eight seasons, according to Basketball-Reference, he has been the NBA’s most valuable player during that span, leading all players in value over replacement player (VORP) each and every one of those post-seasons.

Eight straight.

James’ steady dominance over the East over nearly a decade has been well-established. But what he’s accomplished this post-season seems like he’s reached another level entirely.

James has already set all-time statistical benchmarks in getting the Cavaliers to their fourth straight NBA Finals. And he’s done so carrying a weak roster while continuing to dominate all facets of the game in his 15th season, a stage when most legends are firmly in the twilight of their career, if they haven’t already walked away from the game.

Three long days away from the 2018 Finals and he’s not finished yet.

But in the meantime, here are some of the crazier achievements of LeBron James’s historic 2018 playoff run so far:

*He hasn’t even played a minute in the Finals yet, and James is already one of only two players to total over 600 points (612, and counting), 160 rebounds (166), 150 assists (158) in a single post-season, joining Larry Bird, who hit those totals in the 1987 playoffs. It’s the second time James has posted those numbers (2015).

Factor in the 30 made three-pointers, and James is the only player to ever post those numbers in a single post-season. And, once again, the Finals haven’t even started.

*He has taken the fewest amount of field goals (417) of any player who has reached 600 total points in a single post-season.

*James has now played 14 per cent more minutes than any other player in the NBA this season.

(James is the only one of those players listed above who played in the NBA after the year 1969).

*James’s 743 minutes rank 15th all-time in most minutes played in a single post-season. His 983 minutes in 2012 are second all-time, behind only Tim Duncan’s 1,021 in 2003.

After leading the NBA in minutes this past season, James leads all players in minutes played this post-season as well. He’s now accomplished the feat in seven of his 13 playoff appearances.

*He’s averaged 18 games per playoffs in his career — which happens to be the total number of post-season games he appeared in last year — and has already reached that total this time around.

*James is averaging 34 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 8.8 assists in the playoffs thus far. The only other player to average at least 34 and eight assists in a post-season was Russell Westbrook in 2017. Westbrook’s Thunder lost in five games in the first round.

Only eight times in the history of the league has a player averaged 34 points and at least nine rebounds in the playoffs while playing more than seven games. You have to go back to 1977 to find the last player not named LeBron James to do so.

The only ones to accomplish that are: Elgin Baylor (’61, ’62), Wilt Chamberlain (’62, ’64), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (’70, ’77). James has now done so twice (2018 and 2009), and those rank first and second in win shares (4.5 this season, 4.8 in ’09).

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