Witnessing Greatness: LeBron to Surpass More Legends in NBA Finals

LeBron James is back in the NBA Finals. More time for us to Witness Greatness.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have booked another trip to the NBA Finals with LeBron James leading the way in finishing off the Toronto Raptors. Along the way, the Eastern Conference Finals provided James with another opportunity to move up in the all-time rankings after a masterful series.

At this moment, James is the only player in the top 5 in playoff points, assists, and steals and is set to move into more elite status in the most important series of the postseason.

In the first game of the 2016 NBA Finals versus the Golden State Warriors, all eyes will be on LeBron once again but the spotlight will be even brighter on his resume. James is only five rebounds shy of Boston Celtics great Larry Bird for 10th place on the all-time career playoff rebounds.

More significantly, he will be the only player in NBA playoff history to be in the top 5 in points, rebounds, assists, and steals once he achieves the milestone!

More significantly, he will be the only player in NBA playoff history to be in the top 5 in points, rebounds, assists, and steals once he achieves the milestone! There is absolutely no one else in league history who can claim to be in the top 10 in all four categories and maybe no one else will. Before his career is over, he might one day be in the top five of all four categories, too.

During the Cleveland vs. Toronto series, LeBron moved up even higher on the list of career playoff accomplishments. Here’s a summary of James’ exploits against the Raptors:

• Games – After six games in the East Finals, James now has a total of 192 games played and is presently in 12th place. He passed Laker legend Magic Johnson in the fifth game of the series.
• Points – In the second game of the series, LeBron overtook Hall-of-Fame-bound Shaquille O’Neal (5,250) for 4th place in the category. Kobe Bryant (5,640) is up next on the list but even with a seven-game series, James would have to score in the 40’s in every game to have a shot at the 3rd spot this year. This means he has to wait ‘til next year’s playoffs to do it.
• Rebounds – LeBron (1,679) took 11th place from one of the greatest rebounders in history, Dennis Rodman (1,676), when he grabbed 11 boards in Game 6.
• Assists – James (1,286) took 3rd place in the assists department from point guard extraordinaire Jason Kidd (1,263) in Game 3 when he dished out five of them to his teammates. However, don’t expect him to move past assists master John Stockton (1,839) of the Utah Jazz for 2nd place anytime soon.
• Blocks – With 8 total blocks in the Raptors’ series, the King (170) passed five players to take 24th place in all-time career blocks in the playoffs. Those players are Vlade Divac, Darryl Dawkins, Greg Ostertag (all three have 165 blocks), his good buddy Dwyane Wade (166), and Jermaine O’Neal (167).
• Free-Throws Made – By making his first freebie in his last outing versus Toronto, LeBron (1,324) moved up into second place ahead of Bryant (1,320) and finished with four made free-throws for the game. Michael Jordan (1,463) is still light years ahead in this category so don’t expect James to take 1st place any time soon.
• Three-Pt Field Goals Made – After taking (and making) more than his usual share of threes in his last two games versus the Raptors, James (274) took 6th place from Paul Pierce (272).

For his succeeding record-breaking achievements, LeBron has his sights set on these next targets in the 2016 NBA Finals.

• Games – After the first two games of the 2016 NBA Finals, James (192) will go ahead of Danny Ainge and Jazz all-timer Karl Malone (both with 193 games on their belts) to take 10th place on the all-time list. If the series goes all the way to at least six games, he’ll take 9th place from the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili (197).
• Rebounds – When he grabs his 5th rebound of the first game of the series, James (1,679) will have taken over 10th place all-time from Bird (1,683). Watch out for this one! Also, he could possibly take the 9th spot from another Laker legend in Elgin Baylor (1,724) if he grabs at least 46 caroms in the series.
• Steals – James (336) is just 3 steals away from taking down Stockton (338) from 4th place in the category. He is, however, still more than a few swipes away from Magic Johnson’s 358. Rest assured that LeBron will be in the 3rd spot by next year’s playoffs.
• Blocks – LeBron (170) is ready to race past Horace Grant (173) when he registers his 4th block of the Finals. That can happen between the first and the fourth game of the series or longer depending on his tenacity to chase down the Warriors’ shots.
• Field Goals Made – This may seem impossible but James (1,883) needs to make at least 16 field goals per game in a 6-game series or 13 or more per game in a 7-game series to pass Duncan (1,975) for 5th place in the category. This may or may not happen in the Finals this year but you can never tell. James had 78 field goals last year in the six game series versus these same Warriors.
• Three-Pt Field Goals Made – If James (274) makes at least 12 three-pointers in the Finals, he will take over the 5th spot from Derek Fisher (285).

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After the six-game Eastern Conference Finals series against the Raptors, here’s how LeBron’s standing in NBA playoffs history looks like:

• Games: 192 (12th)
• Points: 5,250 (4th)
• Rebounds: 1,679 (11th)
• Assists: 1,286 (3rd)
• Steals: 336 (5th)
• Blocks: 170 (24th)
• Field Goals Made: 1,883 (6th)
• Free-Throws Made: 1,324 (2nd)
• Three-Pt Field Goals Made: 274 (6th)
• Turnovers: 669 (2nd)
• Triple-Doubles: 15 (2nd)

The Finals is just a few days away as the King will take the stage for the sixth straight year. He will be the first player (along with teammate James Jones) to accomplish the feat in the last 50 years after some of the Boston Celtics of the sixties did the same.

Exciting times are ahead as the Cavs seek to deliver a first-ever NBA championship to the city of Cleveland. The battle-tested Warriors stand in the way but James is more motivated than ever to exact his revenge on the team that took the crown from him last year.

Expect LeBron to break and surpass even more records the moment the 2016 NBA Finals begins.

"Next in line: the #NBAFinals!https://t.co/iUziVuEI90— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 31, 2016"

We will continue to chronicle LeBron James’ career achievements in the NBA Finals on WITNESSing Greatness over here at KingJamesGospel.com.