Cavs: Flashing back to LeBron James’ 2018 clutch Game 5. vs Pacers

On this April 25 date in 2018, LeBron James came up with a clutch performance when the Cleveland Cavaliers needed it in Game 5 of Cleveland’s first round series against the Indiana Pacers.

The 2018 postseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers was, quite frankly, featuring LeBron James playing out of his mind, with notable help around him that was fairly spotty. It wasn’t a total shock that James ended up going to the Los Angeles Lakers via unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018 after finishing out his second tenure with Cleveland, when considering that.

The Cavs would end up advancing to their fourth straight NBA Finals, all of which they played the Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland would end up getting swept by a superior roster, which then also had Kevin Durant, along with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and others.

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The Cavs did end up sweeping the then-top-seeded Toronto Raptors thanks to a team effort from the Wine and Gold in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but Cleveland went seven with the Boston Celtics.

Additionally, in the first round, it was a seven-game series with the Indiana Pacers.

Plus, on today’s date of April 25 back in that 2018 postseason, the Cavaliers were so fortunate to then have a clutch performance from LeBron in that Game 5, which resulted in a 98-95 victory.

In that matchup against Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and an always hard-nosed Pacers squad that gave the Cleveland Cavaliers trouble, James was, as he often has been throughout his career, the ultimate trump card.

The King was truly playing at the peak of his powers in that series, and in that aforementioned first round Game 5 against the visiting Pacers, he had a monster performance, with 44 points on 14-of-24 shooting from the field, as noted by Basketball Reference. Along with that, he had 10 rebounds and eight assists, and was continually getting downhill.

Plus, James ended up shooting an unconscious 15-of-15 from the free throw line, which Cleveland really needed in what was a tight game right until the closing buzzer. I won’t discount the importance of former Cavs sharpshooter Kyle Korver, either, though, as he again was big-time for the Wine and Gold in this one, as he had 19 big points, which consisted of him hitting five-of-nine from three-point land.

That being said, this one featured a heck of a game from James, who again, came up CLUTCH.

He was asserting his will in getting to the lane, the free throw line, and was dishing to shooters, such as Korver. Needless to say, LeBron was doing any and everything he could for the Cavs to come up with a much-needed Game 5 W.

That included the last two possessions of the game.

While it did seem awful close to hitting the glass before, LeBron came up with one of his patented chase-down blocks with 3.0 seconds remaining in the game on Oladipo, and it was indeed not ultimately goal-tending.

As former KJGer Jackson Flickinger following the game also hit on (and NBA on TNT), this play seemed just like another ever-crucial chase-down block on Andre Iguodala back in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals versus the Warriors, which the Wine and Gold ended up winning, resulting in the Cavs’ only championship to this point.

Right you were, Jackson, and again, what a play by LeBron at that moment. Had Oladipo’s attempt hit, Indy would’ve been up 97-95 going into the Cavs’ last possession.

From there, the King did well…….King things. Just for good measure, too, we’ll rewind it back to the previous block before that shot at the gun.

Man. What a shot that was, and the Cavs got a desperately-needed win. Cleveland would go on to eventually win in seven, and again, lose in the 2018 NBA Finals.

Meanwhile, James is seemingly in the thick of this season’s MVP conversation, as he is currently averaging 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. In addition, James, even at 35, is leading the NBA in assists per game with 10.6 per outing, per NBA.com. That’s played right into him, Anthony Davis and the Lakers currently being the top seed in the Western Conference at this point.

Of course, it is uncertain at this juncture, though, if the 2019-20 season will eventually be played out, at least in some capacity, down the road. The NBA’s season is currently on hiatus due to concerns regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Cavs, on the other hand, are amid a full-rebuild, but young pieces such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. have gotten plenty of minutes to continue on in their progression, and all have shown promise.

It is again pretty cool to flash back a bit to this clutch LeBron 2018 first round Game 5 for Cleveland versus Indy on what was this April 25 date, though.