Former Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James had many iconic moments with the team.
Perhaps his most impressive single-game performance came in a Game 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals. In that game, James recorded 51 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 19-for-32 shooting from the field and 10-for-11 shooting from the charity stripe.
Despite those heroics, James’ former teammate Larry Nance Jr. recently revealed that he believes a more impressive single-game performance occurred when his New Orleans Pelicans faced off against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets during the 2021-22 regular season.
“The most impressive performance was this year when we played in Denver and were up maybe 20 at half, and Jokic kind of showed up,” he said. “He came out the second half, and I think he had 33 and 12. … It was the most impressive performance I’ve ever seen on an NBA court, period.”
Jokic finished the game with 46 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. There’s no doubt that it was a truly impressive outing and one of the most dominant triple-double performances in recent memory.
However, when it comes to debating performances, context matters. The fact that James recorded his performance in the NBA Finals certainly adds a fair amount of weight to the conversation. That is especially true considering the fact that James was facing off against what was arguably one of the most talented teams to ever be compiled.
Of course, the Warriors wound up sweeping the Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals. Nance was also on that Cavs team.
In the end, Nance is just offering his opinion, and he made it clear that he meant “no slight to anyone,” and that surely includes James.
