OAKLAND, Calif. -- The superlatives keep flowing for LeBron James during the NBA Finals, and how couldn't they? With a depleted roster all around him, James has done it all for the Cavaliers -- as the best player in the world might do.

James has two triple-doubles, three 40-point games, a 39-point game and is going to become the first player in the history of the Finals to average 35 points, 10 rebounds and five assists -- and he's going to do it by a mile. (Through five games, he's averaging 36.6/12.4/8.8.)

He's 12 points away from becoming the sixth player with 5,000 career playoff points, the other five being Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan. Imagine how many points LeBron would've scored if he didn't have to share the ball with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on four straight trips to the Finals in Miami.

Whether James' greatness will be so overwhelming as to fight off elimination against the Warriors on Tuesday night or not as the Cavs trail 3-2, it's hard to imagine James not being the No. 1 postseason scorer in NBA history when all is said and done. His powers are at their peak, and his team will be much more potent next season with the return of Kyrie Irving (let alone Kevin Love, should he decide to stay in Cleveland as a free agent).

If James can get to the Finals and push a 67-win Warriors team this hard with this group around him, it's hard to imagine what kind of team James couldn't lead to the Finals at this point. So get used to the incredible performances, exhausting efforts and plenty more stories about James being the best basketball player walking the planet.

But the fact that such a tale came from James himself on Sunday night was unusual, out of character and eminently interesting.

Asked if he's playing so freely and comfortably because there's less pressure on him with all the injuries -- an odd take, indeed, given that James is literally responsible for everything on the floor for the Cavs -- James decided it was time to remind everyone who he was.

"No," he said. "No, I feel confident because I'm the best basketball player in the world. It's that simple."

Well, then.

We've all seen him perform that way, and you've seen me write that about a dozen times during these Finals. But to my recollection, James had never uttered such a statement publicly. So I sought him out after his press conference and asked him why he'd done that.

"It's all about me putting in the work," he told CBSSports.com. "It's just basically saying, like I always say, I feel like I'm the MVP every night. I feel like what I'm capable of doing in this league is the one of the best if not the best."

Not that anyone could argue with that, but it wasn't typical postgame reflection from James, was it?

"Nah, it's not," he said. "But it came out."

As James made his way out of the arena with longtime friend Maverick Carter, he was smiling almost sheepishly -- as though he regretted having said it. But one thing about James and his incredible performance in these Finals: Win or lose, he should have no regrets.

"When you're true to the game, it doesn't matter if it's a regular season game or a Finals game," James said. "You just go out and trust what you put into the game and you live with the results."

Rick Barry, basketball writer. Warriors great Rick Barry, who led the franchise to its only NBA title in 1975, is writing for the San Francisco Examiner during the Finals. As he stood in the locker room with his gold-and-blue Warriors T-shirt -- hey, at least he wears his fandom on his shirtsleeves unlike some media cheerleaders -- Barry offered his thoughts to a group of reporters.

"The referees determine how physical the game is, and they've let the game become too physical," Barry said. "It's East Coast basketball, and that worried me coming into the series. How were the Warriors going to adjust to that? And they've adjusted well."

It's true. It's a testament to how hard LeBron James has pushed them that the best team in the NBA all season had to change its starting lineup four games into the Finals. Since going small with Andre Iguodala in the starting lineup, the Warriors have won two straight and are on the brink of ending the franchise's 40-year drought.

"If they play the way they are capable of playing for just three quarters, they are going to win easily," Barry said, according to Yahoo Sports. "They're a better team." 

Milestones. Stephen Curry became the fifth player in Warriors history to reach the 1,000-point mark in the postseason, joining Barry, Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Arizin and Jeff Mullins. He's the first player in Finals history to hit seven 3-pointers in multiple games in the same series. ... Of the previous 28 instances in which the NBA Finals were tied 2-2, the team that won Game 5 won the series 20 times. The last time the Game 5 winner failed to close out the series was 2013, when the Spurs won Game 5 but lost Games 6 and 7 in Miami. That, of course, was under the defunct 2-3-2 format. ... James has now played more playoff minutes than Michael Jordan and Bill Russell. He's ninth all-time with 7,515. He's one game shy of the record of four 40-point games in a Finals series, accomplished only by Jerry West for the Lakers in the 1969 Finals against Boston and Jordan in the '93 Finals against Phoenix.