LeBron James Reflected On His Legendary 48-Point Performance Against The Pistons In 2007

The return of J.R. Smith to the lineup after an extended absence is a wildly important subplot to Thursday’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons. However, there was plenty to reflect on prior to the announcement that the talented swingman would make his comeback from injury.

This stemmed from the fact that this will be the final regular season visit to the Palace of Auburn Hills for LeBron James. The Palace is the site of one of LeBron’s best individual performances, as he famously exploded for 48 points during a Game 5 victory over the Pistons in 2007. At the time, it was considered James’ coming-out party given the fact that he scored Cleveland’s final 25 (!) points of the contest.

The best player in the world was prompted by ESPN to reflect on his time spent within the four walls of the basketball arena in Auburn Hills.

“I’ve had a lot of memories obviously. It’s been fun to play here in this building and see the history. This went up in ’89 I believe. I’ve had a lot of games here, a lot of battles with a lot of great teams and the fans have always been pretty great. That will continue to happen when they move downtown, too.”

While it might not be the best performance of LeBron’s storied career (one that continues at an obscenely high level), it will always be one that he is remembered for given the extremely young age and the singular dominance of his second-half showing. Where would it rank for James? Well, he doesn’t quite know just yet.

“I haven’t ranked games yet for me because I’m still going and still playing,” James said when asked to put that performance up against others in his career. “When I played that particular game that night, I was exhausted. I had nothing left after that game. I left everything out on the floor and we was able to close that series out back at home in Game 6. I haven’t had time to rank what I’ve done so far.”

Every time LeBron steps on the court, there is plenty to evaluate and, frankly appreciate. Still, there is a younger generation of LeBron’s fans that probably don’t grasp the type of gravity that his 2007 Game 5 performance had and, if they need a reminder, the images tell a compelling story.

It would be difficult to find an NBA arena that does not boast a dominant game from LeBron James, but the Palace of Auburn Hills is closing its doors soon and that decision provides a prompt to sit back and remember just how ridiculous this one was.

(Via ESPN)