James Sets Personal Mark for Most Points in NBA Finals Game

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James set a new personal best for the NBA Finals with his 44 points in Thursday's 108-100 Game 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors, per NBA.com/Stats.

While he needed 38 field-goal attempts and 10 free-throw attempts to get there, James also contributed eight rebounds and six assists in the overtime loss, with only four turnovers despite his sky-high usage rate.

His previous personal best for the NBA Finals was 37 points, achieved in Game 7 of the unforgettable 2013 Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, per Basketball-Reference.com.

While Thursday's showing won't join that one as one of the signature performances of James' career, it was still an impressive effort—even as his Cavs were held scoreless in the overtime period until he made a meaningless layup with nine seconds left.

James played the overtime period without the full services of star Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, who aggravated his knee injury toward the end of the fourth quarter and couldn't finish the game, per Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

James, meanwhile, finished the game tying Shaquille O'Neal (2001) for an unusual record, scoring the most points ever for a player on the losing team in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Though obviously not the kind of record James wants to have, it shows just how much he may be on his own in this series.