
5. LeBron James, 52 points: Feb. 4, 2009
LeBron James took six years to work his way into Madison Square Garden lore, but on Feb. 4, 2009, he made an indent on this venue, and the Knicks, with 52 points. Easily still one of his best performances almost 10 years later.
In an awe-inspiring stat line, James, without regard for this 21-27 Knicks squad at the time, derailed them for 17-of-33 shooting — only two made shots from 3-point range — and 9 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals.
One more rebound may have solidified this even more among MSG’s greatest single-game performances.
Under Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni, defense wasn’t exactly prioritized, so it led to dominations like this. Al Harrington, Quentin Richardson, Jared Jeffries and David Lee hardly posed threats to thwart that night, let alone most games in 2008-09. So James and the Cavaliers went off for 46.3 percent shooting and 10-for-24 from 3-point range.
James carried this unusual Cavaliers group of Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Wally Szczerbiak and Mo Williams for most of the game — a representation of the talent around this three-time NBA champion; none of his trio of titles came in his first Cleveland stint.
So, nights like this weren’t unusual for The King. He had two other 50-point games that season and six of 40-to-49 points.