Ranking the 5 best LeBron James Christmas Day performances
No NBA player has played more on Christmas, than LeBron James. Here are his five best performances on Christmas Day.
When Christmas Day comes you can rely on there being presents under the tree, Christmas movies being watched, hot cocoa and eggnog being drank, and LeBron James playing in an NBA game.
Every season since the 2007-08 season, LeBron James has played on Christmas, making this season his 17th consecutive season of playing on Christmas and his 18th overall Christmas Day game. James has had plenty of great Christmas games and has had some poor ones but he has a Christmas legacy unlike any other player in NBA history.
He will look to continue his vast success against the Celtics on Dec. 25 this year but here are his five best performances on Christmas Day.
5. 2021: LeBron against the Brooklyn Nets
The stakes for this game started building in the 2019 offseason when the Brooklyn Nets signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Anthony Davis. Since Kevin Durant would miss the whole, 2019-20 season with an Achilles injury, the 2020-21 season was supposed to be a Nets vs. Lakers finals. The chances of that increased due to the Nets acquiring James Harden.
That didn't happen because of injuries to both teams and when the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook, the anticipation of a Nets vs. Lakers finals grew even bigger for the 2021-22 season, leading to this Christmas Day matchup.
The injury bug would strike again as the Nets were playing without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and the Lakers were playing without Anthony Davis. This left James Harden alone to go up against a struggling Lakers team.
LeBron would pull through on this day having 39 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 1 block shooting 14-for-25 from the field, 3-for-9 from 3, and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. He scored 16 of his 39 in the second quarter and 13 of his 39 in the fourth quarter.
For most of the game, the Lakers were being blown out and were down 102-82 at the end of the third quarter. The charge led by LeBron and Malik Monk would get the game tied at115-all with 45 seconds left before the Nets scored seven straight points to win the game 122-115.
Even though LeBron didn't win this game, the heroics in the fourth quarter in almost overcoming a 20-point deficit and having arguably his best stat line ever on Christmas is why it's on the list. But the loss keeps it at No. 5.