One of the top honors in the NBA is the Most Valuable Player award and this season presented a plethora of choices to bring home that hardware. Russell Westbrook and James Harden had historic seasons, while Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James continued their run of dominance.

When that list of candidates broke on TNT, James was not featured as a finalist and some might find that shocking. For months now, it was considered a four-man race and it was hard to single out one person who would be ranked fourth out of the eligible pool.

The King was not exactly his normal self before game time and his play on Sunday night looked like a man who seemed drained. But, his performances in closeout games absolutely speak for themselves as he consistently puts teams to bed.

Here are the four best examples of LeBron putting the pedal to the metal in the case of a clinching game:

2012 - Eastern Conference Finals, Game 7

LBJ avenged his losses to the Celtics in 2011 with a masterful performance in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The next year, the Miami Heat found themselves in trouble as they would fall behind 3-2 to the C’s.

LeBron uncorked one of his masterpieces. A performance on line with his explosion versus Detroit and his Defiant Game 5 against the Warriors last year. He followed it up with 31 points and 12 boards to clinch another trip to the NBA Finals

2013 - NBA Finals, Game 7

James has a great deal of history with the San Antonio Spurs and this is probably his best moment against the franchise. Game 6 of this series was absolutely insane and might stand as the greatest Finals game ever.

The last game was also pretty amazing as the Heat smelled blood in the water and went on to claim their second straight championship. His final line was 37 points, 12 rebounds and four assists on the way to Finals MVP honors.

2011 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Game 5

Actually vanquishing the Celtics has to get a spot here because the act was such a big deal for LeBron at the time. They had tormented him in both 2008 and 2010 as the Cavaliers fell to the original Big 3 which spurred The King to take his talents to South Beach.

33 points in the closeout game went a long way to silencing the demons of his past failures and brought him one step closer to the Finals. They would eventually lose to Dallas, but this accomplishment was no small feat for the Big 3 of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

2016 - NBA Finals, Game 7

Unless he can beat this year’s version of the Golden State Warriors or somehow passes Michael Jordan in ring total, this will be LeBron’s crowning achievement. In a series where he was an absolute underdog, he led his team back from a 3-1 deficit to capture a title for Cleveland.

James delivered a triple-double in the series clincher as the road team in a raucous Oracle Arena. 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and the most memorable block in NBA Finals history for the King. This was absolutely vintage.