LeBron James

Left to walk to the sidelines, lamenting the mistakes that came with blowing a double-digit second half lead in back-to-back games in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers considered their plan, with only one second remaining, a stunned crowd, and a two-point deficit. As his All-Star point guard — and inbounder — would later tell it, Options A, B, and C were LeBron James. Option D? “Big Game James.” Locked into what would become his career’s highest-scoring series, that meant only one option for the Orlando Magic: defeat. Feigning the idea of an alley-oop with just enough conviction to free himself of Hedo Turkoglu’s glue-tight defense, the 2008-09 Most Valuable Player lives up to the stature, drifting towards the top of the key for a pass. Extraordinarily high in his elevation, James sends a 25-foot triple through the net for a jaw-dropping bucket, drawing all 20,562 in attendance out of their seats in celebration. In what the 24-year-old superstar deemed the “biggest shot” of his career to that point, James followed his 49-point Game One masterpiece with 35 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one 3-pointer on May 22, 2009, tying the series at a game apiece.

MVP Year