On nine occassions has the four-time Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association LeBron James of the Miami Heat scored 50 points or more in his career. His best scoring performance came Mar. 20, 2005 when he scored 56 for the then Cleveland Cavaliers in a 105-98 loss at the Toronto Raptors. All nine of those amazing scoring nights came on the road. This past Monday night versus the Charlotte Bobcats, James put on a memorable performance, established a new Heat record and a former foe, now a teammate was a part of the moment.
In the Heat's (43-16) 124-107 win versus the Bobcats (29-33), their 16th consecutive over the Bobcats, James scored a career-high and a new Heat record of 61 points.
James went 22 for 33 from the field, including going 8 for 10 from three-point territory and 9 for 12 from the free throw line. He also had seven boards and five assists in 41 minutes.
He broke the previous mark that was set by former Miami Heat sharp shooting forward Glen Rice, who scored a then Heat record of 56 points, going 20 for 27 from the field, including connecting on 7 for 8 from three-point range and 9 for 10 from the free throw line in Miami's 123-117 win versus the Orlando Magic on Apr. 15 1995.
How good was James on this night. Well he started strong with 11 points in the opening quarter. He scored 24 in the points in the second stanza. He put up an incredible 25 points in the third quarter, which matched the output of the entire Bobcats team and he concluded his amazing night with 12 points in the fourth and final period to help the Heat pull out the victory.
"I felt pretty good in the first half, but halftime came can always kind of derail things and slow things up," James, whose made a career-high 22 shots and tied a career-high with eight connections from the three-point line said after the game. "But I was able to get things going once again in the third quarter and I knew it could be one of those nights."
To put the remarkable performance of James into perspective, Bobcats forward Al Jefferson, whose performance this season gave him a strong case for being an All-Star this season scored a team high 38 points and grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds in 38 minutes of work.
On top of that, the Bobcats, who have really been a true surprise this season as they are currently seventh in the Eastern Conference and would face the Heat if the playoffs started right now, gave Miami all they could handle. It is because they could not slow down James that they fell on the short end this past Monday night.
Unfortunately, this was the second time that an opposing player had put up 60-plus points against the Bobcats this season, which made them the third team in NBA history to allow two different players to score 60 points or more in a game. The last time it happened was in the 1961-62 season when the New York Knicks when the late Wilt Chamberlin famously scored 100 points, the most by a player in NBA history versus the Knicks in Hershey, PA in the then Philadelphia Warriors 169-147 win on Mar. 2 that season. Jerry West also scored 60 points in a game against the Knicks back in 1961-62.
Back on Jan. 24 at the Knicks, All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony scored a career-high, an all-time team record and a new Madison Square Garden record 62 points as the Bobcats suffered a 125-96 defeat. Anthony also had 13 rebounds.
Jefferson was overshawdowed in that contest also, as he lead the Bobcats with 25 points and nine rebounds.
"You take away his 61 and we still had a fighting chance there at the end," Jefferson said after the game on Monday night.
Rice's then record breaking performance was a big reason the Heat, who missed the playoffs that season needed every point to defeat the eventual Eastern Conference champions of 1995. That performance by Miami's greatest shooter in team history and one of the very best in NBA history countered the tremendous performances from four of Orlando's starting five that afternoon.
Then Magic center and current NBATV/NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O'Neal lead the Magic with 38 points, 16 boards and two blocks. Magic lead guard Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway had 28 points and 18 assists. Forward Horace Grant had 21 points and 10 boards and guard Nick Anderson had 20 points on 7 for 16 shooting, including going 4 for 9 from three-point territory.
As mentioned this was the first time that James scored 50-plus at home. This was also the eighth win in ten tries in his career with the Cavs and the Heat that James scored that many points and his team was victorious.
It is one thing to do it on the road in places like Madison Squard Garden in New York, NY, which James did back on Feb. 4, 2009 putting up 52 points, 11 assists and nine boards in the Cavs 107-102 win at the New York Knicks. It is a treat to do it in front of your fans, which James knows very well.
"This was the first time I've ever scored 50 on the home court. I've done it so many times on the road, but now at home and to be able to do it in front of these fans. It's a surreal feeling for me right now," James said after the game.
While he did not have Dwyane Wade, who sat this game out to rest his knee, the other member of the Heat's "Big Three" was on the court for this big performance in Chris Bosh, who had 15 points and seven boards in the victory Monday.
This is not the first time though that the 10-year forward out of Georgia Tech has been present for an out of this world performance by an NBA peer of his.
While still with the Toronto Raptors, where he played the first seven seasons of his career, he was on the court when then Bulls guard Jamal Crawford, now with the Clippers scored a career-high 50 points in leading the Bulls to a 114-108 victory at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON. Bosh had a game to forget scoring just six points on 2 for 10 shooting
The most memorable performance Bosh was on the court and witnessed was on a Sunday night on Jan. 22, 2006 when Lakers swingman Kobe Bryant scored 81 points, the second highest scoring game in NBA history as the Lakers won 122-104. Bosh scored 18 points and grabbed eight boards.
When James scored his 56 points nine seasons back, Bosh was a part of that Raptors group. He was on the winning side of this one dispite a subpar game with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Bosh had a front row seat when James put up his first 50-plus point performance as a member of the Heat when he registered 51 points, 11 boards and eight assists as the Heat won at the Orlando Magic 104-100 on Feb. 3, 2011. Bosh had 13 points and six boards.
Back on Apr. 2, 2013, Anthony of the Knicks scored 50 points in leading the Knicks to a 102-90 victory at the Heat. James sat out the game as well as Wade. Bosh lead the Heat on that evening with 23 points.
A lot was learned on Monday night in South Florida. We learned that James, who is in the running for his fifth MVP, is one of the best in the game as demonstrated by his record setting performance. That Bosh was a part of and on the receiving end of incredible performance a his teammate James or a future Hall of Famer peer. Also that while the Charlotte Bobcats have shown this season that they are a pretty good defensive team, two of the best in the league scoring wise have out of this world performances at their expense and both were ones to remember.
Information, statistics and quotations are courtesy of 3/4/14 1 a.m. edition of "NBA Tonight" on ESPN 2 with Cassidy Hubbarth and Tim Legler; 3/8/14 12 p.m. edition of "NBA Inside Stuff" with Grant Hill and Kristen Ledlow on NBATV; www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/19950415MIA.html;www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200503200TOR.html;espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=240411028;espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=26122013;espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=310203019;espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=400278829;www.nba.com/gameline/?cid=2013#$/games/20140303/CHAMIA/gameinfo.html
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