How does a top 2 player of all-time with 4 finals MVPs, 4 championships, 10 finals appearances potentially have his best playoff run in a year where he isn’t in the finals? I present to you the case for LeBron James’ 2009 playoff run to be his best.
So let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room (virtually): the fact that LeBron and the 1 seeded 2009 cavaliers could not make the finals. One of the main reasons, this playoff run from LeBron is overlooked is because of the narrative surrounding it relative to other runs. With 2007, you have the unlikely “carryjob” to the finals and with 2016, there’s obviously the 3-1 comeback against a 73 win team (For what it’s worth I do believe 2016 has a very valid case for being LeBron’s best playoff run). With 2009, the general expectation from the Cavs was to make the finals however they did not deliver on this. However in my opinion, condensing and measuring an individual playoff run based on narratives and just team-success lacks a lot of context and analysis. Firstly, the magic was a matchup nightmare for the cavs based on how they played in the series. The Magic’s best player at the time was Dwight Howard, the reigning defensive player of the year, first team all-nba member and the best center in the league. Not only was he an elite defensive presence and rim protector but the cavs big men were no matchup for him on the offensive end either as he put up almost 26 points per game on insane efficiency (65% FG and 69% TS) including a 40-14 game to close out the Cavs in 6. This wasn’t the only front-court mismatch favoring the Magic. The Cavs’ go-to lineup and starting lineup essentially included 2 centers- Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. For the time, this wasn’t too unusual however the Magic’s progressive offensive scheme of surrounding Dwight with shooters completely exploited the Cavs. Rashard Lewis, the Magic’s starting power forward who was a quality shooter, scored 18.3 points a game at insane efficiency of 49% FG, 48% from 3 and 64% TS in the series. For context of how good their efficiency was, Howard and Lewis were the top 2 in terms of TS% among all starters in the series. Both Howard and Lewis came up clutch in close wins as well. In game 1, Lewis would hit the game-winning 3 to give the Magic a 1 point win. Dwight Howard would score 10 of 16 overtime points in a narrow 2 point OT win in game 4 to give the magic a 3-1 lead. Alongside their #1 defense, ahead of it’s time offensive scheme and formidable front-court, the Magic also got significant contributions from point-forward Hedo Turkoglou who averaged 17-6-7 on decent efficiency and Mikael Piterous who was very efficient for his near 14 points a night off the bench.
I digress into the full context of this series to show the things that went into the Cavs’ losing this series that had very less to do with LeBron. LeBron did not go to the 2009 finals mostly because of having an inferior team relative to the Magic and not because of any major individual lapses which is evident by his historic production even in a losing cause. LeBron averaged 39 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists on 59% True Shooting. These stats look insane but may need some more context so let’s examine. Was he clutch in this series? He averaged almost 10 points a 4th quarter (and had a 10 point OT in game 4) and hit a game-winner in game 2 to tie the series. According to NBA.com ‘s clutch stats used to track scoring in ‘clutch’ situations, LeBron averaged a whopping 47.7 points per 36 minutes on insane efficiency of 56.3 FG%, 50% from 3 and 71.2% True Shooting in the eastern conference finals’ clutch minutes. To truly epitomize the tough situation LeBron was in, after game 4 of the eastern conference finals, LeBron averaged a whopping 42/7/7 statline and his team was down 3-1 with the only win coming from his game winner.
However such insane production in the conference finals isn’t even the most impressive part about this playoff run. LeBron got to the Conference Finals firstly by sweeping the 8 seeded Pistons. In this series, LeBron averaged a whopping 32 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists on great efficiency of 62.2% true shooting. LeBron led both teams in points, rebounds and assists in each of the last 3 games of the series. With his 38 point, 7 assist performance, he led both teams in the aforementioned categories in game 1 as well. With the game tied in game 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter, LeBron took over putting up 11 points and 4 assists in the next 8 minutes of the 4th to ensure the Cavs didn’t slip up and gave them an eventually unassailable 3-0 series lead.
After sweeping the pistons with his insane stats, LeBron would have an arguably even better series vs the hawks in the second round. The Cavs would comfortably sweep the 4-seeded Hawks thanks to LeBron putting up a 34-8-6 statline on some insane shooting splits and efficiency with 56-48-70 splits and 67% True Shooting. He did this in just 38 minutes a game as the cavs would win each game of the series by an average of 18 points.
So with all the context and details explained, let’s look at how this playoff run compares to Lebron’s other runs as well as its place in the history books. Lebron’s 47.5 points per 100 possessions ranked as the highest in playoff history among players who played at least 4 games. LeBron’s 0.399 win shares per 48 minutes, a statistic used to measure the impact of winning from an individual, ranked as the highest ws/48 in league playoff history. Another impact metric BPM, also ranked this playoff run as the best in league history.
Relative to later seasons, some may question how great LeBron’s Defense and shot-making were. There’s somewhat of a misconception regarding LeBron’s defense in his earlier years as despite being less versatile, his impact in his role was still quite similar to the very best of his career. His defensive IQ, team defense (including rotations) were elite. He was at his athletic peak which definitely helped him be a threat in the passing lanes while also providing some of his highlight chasedown blocks. As it pertains to lebron’s shot-making, LeBron shot a personal playoff high 47.6% from mid-range.
Due to a combination of narratives and winning bias, LeBron James’ 2009 playoff run may be one of the most under-rated stretches of basketball in league history.
The Hoops Enthusiast 