When the Boston Celtics built their team in the summer of 2007 by adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to an already great Paul Pierce and a young Rajon Rondo, who would become the fourth star of that lineup, the Celtics were preparing to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy home for the first time in 22 years. However, just a season earlier, LeBron James had led his Cleveland Cavaliers on an almost impossible run to the Finals, where they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Even though LeBron was already being talked about as the future face of the league, Pierce had a mission and wasn’t going to hand over the Eastern Conference top spot without a fight. He knew the Celtics were a “win-now” team, and anything less than the chip would have been a colossal disappointment.
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No one gave Cavs much of a chance
The Celtics entered the playoffs as the top seed in the East after a historically good 66-16 record, while the Cavs came in fourth at 45-37, and no one gave them much chance. In the first round, Boston had to survive a surprisingly tough seven-game series against the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks, only to face another seven-game grind against Cleveland in the next round.
Cleveland, meanwhile, handled the Washington Wizards relatively easily in the first round, entering the series battle-tested but still clearly the underdogs against the Celtics. In Game 7, the shots weren’t falling for Boston’s stars, as Allen, Garnett, and Rondo combined to shoot just 10-of-30. LeBron didn’t get much help either, with only Delonte West providing double-digit support. Boston maintained a safe lead for most of the game until 2:19 left, when the Cavs cut the deficit to just one point after James’s dunk.
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Pierce sealed it with two free throws with 7.9 seconds left, finishing the game with 41 points on 13-of-23 shooting. LeBron ended with 45 points on 14-of-29, but the Celtics went on to win the series and bring the title home against their fiercest rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, with Pierce taking Finals MVP honors.
“I mean, the legacy of this is like one of the greatest NBA games of all time,” he said in the Games with Names podcast. “You know, that wasn’t a Finals game because it was young LeBron, who many considered the greatest basketball player that ever played the game, and a young player carrying his team to heights they shouldn’t have even been going to. And it was just a battle of the wills between the two stars of their teams. It was a win-or-go-home situation. That wasn’t the game that sent him to Miami, but it put something on his mind ’cause when we did it again a couple years later, he had enough.”
The only thing on King James’ mind was beating the Celtics
Although LeBron was just 23 then, the “Chosen One” stigma following him even before he stepped on an NBA hardwood was clearly a heavy burden. Dwyane Wade had already won a title with the Miami Heat, and after James controversially won the Rookie of the Year award over Carmelo Anthony, many questioned whether LeBron was truly the best player in the 2003 draft class.
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Even with a below-average roster, which after that seven-game loss would go on to win 60+ games in the next two seasons after they already reached the 2007 Finals, it was clear Cleveland had a ceiling, and that ceiling wasn’t winning a title. After giving everything in that Game 7 and still not advancing past the ECSF, the narrative grew: could the Cavs take LeBron to the promised land?
Frustration mounted season after season until the summer of 2011, when LeBron decided to team up with Chris Bosh and Wade in Miami to form his “Big Three.” Many believed the only thing on King James’ mind was beating the Celtics, who had eliminated him two times in the playoffs. LBJ later admitted that his motivation to go to Miami was mainly because of Boston.
“I understood then that in order for me to compete for a championship and get to that next level,” said LeBron. “I had to figure out and get with some guys that could be on the same level as Paul, Ray, (Rajon) Rondo, KG and those guys.”
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That Game 7 practically reshaped the league
If that game had a different outcome and LeBron had broken Boston and gone all the way, the NBA history books would have been written differently. The frustration of scoring 45 points in Game 7 and still losing clearly impacted LeBron’s future decisions, as Pierce addressed. That game practically reshaped the league, as LeBron later built one of the greatest teams in history because he realized it was nearly impossible to beat Boston alone.
Even in LeBron’s second season with Miami, he ran into familiar problems in the Eastern Conference Finals when Boston gained a 3-2 lead, and it looked like another epic LeBron collapse. But Game 6 would go down in the history of the NBA forever: LeBron donned his Superman cape and scored another unbelievable 45 points with 15 rebounds. In Game 7, he added 32 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists to finally defeat Pierce and the Celtics, whose roster would fall apart after that season.
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In those two elimination games, LeBron cemented his status as the best player on the planet, while Pierce underperformed in both games, signaling the decline of Boston’s legendary generation led by “The Truth.”
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.