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During an earlier phase of LeBron James' career, the Boston Celtics were his personal block of Kryptonite. They knocked his Cleveland Cavaliers out of the NBA playoffs in 2008 and 2010, even though the Cavaliers were strong favorites to beat them in 2010, and they, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, were very much the kings of the hill during that time.
After James joined the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010, he finally got past Boston in the second round of the 2011 playoffs before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in that season's NBA Finals. But the following year, Boston delivered Miami a surprising home loss in the closing moments of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals and took a 3-2 series lead. People started to wonder if the superstar would ever get over the hump.
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Facing elimination, he responded with a monster 45-point, 15-rebound, five-assist performance in Game 6, which gave the Heat a 98-79 victory. Rajon Rondo, one of the four stars on that Celtics team, admitted during an appearance on "Thanalysis Show" that it was the only time he felt helpless against another player.
“... Game 6, when we had no answer for Bron when he came into the Garden and I think he dropped 46 or 45, and there was nothing no one could do… The look in his eyes… I think that took his legacy and his career path to another level. Because I feel like if we would've beat them in that particular game, they were done for and then he would probably try to figure out somewhere else to go, because he had went from Cleveland to Miami to particularly kind of beat the big three.
“... I tried to guard him a couple of possessions, and he just shooed me outta there like a little fly.”
Rondo was known as one of basketball's truly elite defenders back then, and he also seemed fearless. But in that particular game, the usually cocksure Celtics were blindsided by what was arguably the greatest performance of James' career.
The Heat came home for Game 7, and the Celtics continued to fight like hell, to the point where they held a double-digit lead in the second quarter and were up 82-81 with less than nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. But James scored 11 of his 31 points in the final period and Miami pulled away for a 101-88 win. It then went on to down the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to finally give James his first NBA championship.
Game 6 of that series was clearly the turning point in James' career and a sliding doors moment. Had Boston emerged victorious, it would've been anyone's guess how his career would've played out afterward, especially given his past postseason failures to that point.
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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Rajon Rondo on feeling helpless against LeBron in Game 2 of 2012 ECF
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