Every ridiculous LeBron James moment that beat the Pacers in Game 5

The Cleveland Cavaliers had LeBron James, and in Game 5 on Wednesday, that was enough.

This has been a recurring reality for the Cavaliers, who have just barely scrapped their way to a 3-2 series lead against the Indiana Pacers in the first round. After losing Games 1 and 3, the Cavaliers rallied — all thanks to LeBron — to the advantage they have now. In Game 5, it took a James’ buzzer-beater that downed the Pacers at the last possible moment. But really, it was his entire game that allowed Cleveland to prosper.

For the evening, James finished with 44 points on 14-of-24 shooting plus 10 rebounds, eight assists, a steal, a block, and five turnovers.

In loosely chronological order, here’s everything that James did in the Cavaliers’ win.

Amazingly, James’ 18 points in the paint tied a career high for a half in both the postseason and regular season. James has lost half a step of athleticism, but he more than makes up for it with a cerebral ability to know when and where to attack the rim effectively. When he does that, especially against an Indiana Pacers’ defense that has decided they won’t sell out completely to stop him, it looks like this.

James finished the half with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. That’s good, folks.

James has both attempted and made more free throws than 15, of course — in one March game in 2006, he went 24 of 28 from the line. But James has never attempted so many free throws while also shooting 100 percent from the line, like he did Wednesday. He has shot 17-of-18, and 13-of-13, but 15-of-15 is a new career record for 100 percent accuracy.

As it turned out, Cleveland needed just about every point.

It was a goaltend.

But come on, could you tell in real time? Here’s a look at the live action.

I have a few thoughts. First, the referees did miss this call, but that’s just because they missed it. That’s as bang-bang as any goaltend I’ve seen recently. In real time, I thought he swatted it clean.

Second, I’m fairly certain Oladipo got it to the rim so quickly that this shot would have missed. It’s impossible to say for sure, and I might be out of my mind, but it looks like he releases it too low and too quickly for that shot to find its way into the basket. That lower, quicker release is what turns James’ possible block into a goaltend.

Third, this happened.

Indiana had a foul to give and there really wasn’t time for him to do anything but pull up into that shot, and Oladipo still didn’t get a great contest.

Bang, bang, bang. That’s the game right there.

If Oladipo’s layup had been called as a goaltend, then it’s possible that he could have defended this shot differently and ended up with the win. The butterfly effect is pretty clear that we can’t just count Oladipo’s bucket and James’ too and still end up with a one-point Cavaliers’ win rather than a three-point one.

Still, this shot was pretty decisive, and brought back memories of 2009.

The takeaway is clear: James is ridiculous good at what he does, and we should appreciate him forever.