Worst Playoff Performances Ever by a Superstar vs. a Boston Team

A legitimate case can be made that LeBron James is, right now, the best player in NBA history. Just last season he single handedly brought a team of undrafted free agents, AAU players and a prison work release unit to the Finals. But against the Celtics, he's put together probably the worst two games of his career. (For all I know, the only bad back-to-back games of his career.) This is in no way intended to mush whatever the Celts are doing right against James, because we all know this cant' keep up; that at some point before this series is over, he'll win a game all by himself. But LeBron's play so far is enough to justify make a list of the worst playoff performances against Boston teams by a legit superstar. If James doesn't pick up his play in the next couple of games, he's looking at capturing the top spot. OK, the second spot.

10. C.C. Sabathia, Indians, 2007 ALCS

Sabathia won the Cy Young Award, by a wide margin, in 2007. But against the Red Sox in the postseason he pitched like Matt Young. Sabathia was 0-2, with a 10.45 ERA and put a Gagnesque 19 runners on base in 10.1 innings.

9. No one vs. the Bruins

As my token hockey fan friend says "The Bruins don't stop legends; they make them."

8. Jerome Bettis, Steelers, 2001 AFC Championship Game

This was prime of his career Bettis. He'd topped 1,000 yds for the sixth straight seasons, in spite of the fact he only appeared in 11 games. But against the Pats the Bus went all Fung Wa as they held him to an astonishingly miniscule 8 yds on 9 carries. Which is less than he would've gotten just by going to the line and falling over on his face every play.

7. Matt Holliday, Rockies, 2007 World Series

To be fair, Holliday's numbers... 5-17, 3 RBI in 4 games... weren't terrible. But he was the NL MVP runner up and came into the Series allegedly hotter than Johnny Storm. And all his RBIs came on one swing of the bat, a garbage time HR in game 3.

6. Mike Martz, Rams, Super Bowl XXXI

Martz was the annointed "genius," the wunderkind mastermind behind the Greatest Show on Turf. Bill Belichick broke Martz' offense down to the molecular level and surmised that the key to the entire operation was taking Marshall Faulk out of the game. The Pats defense took him out in the first half and a panicked Martz took him out for the second. Soon Kurt Warner's God abandoned him too and the Rams were never the same.

5. Ralph Sampson, Rockets, 1986 NBA Finals

Sampson was an agile 7'4" monster with a jump shot as soft as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. And he had Hakeem Olajuwon as the other half the Twin Towers to do all the banging and heavy lifting underneath. Against the Celts in the Finals, though, he coughed it up to the tune of 35-80 from the field and less than 15 PPG. More importantly, he lost a fight to Jerry Sichting of all people, who was 13 inches shorter than him, prompting Johnny Most to use the word "gutless" three times in one sentence, an NBA record which stands to this day.

4. Shawne Merriman, Chargers, 2007 AFC Championship Game

Merriman had spent the entire 2007 calendar year vowing revenge for the way the Patriots ended the Chargers season on their home field in the playoffs. And for the classless way they did his ultra classy "Lights Out" dance. And revenge came in the form of 3 tackles, 1 solo.

3. Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 2004 World Series

The undisputed Best Player of the 21 Century played in the '04 Series, but you'd never know it. In a 4 game series he drove in as many runs (0) as I did. It's easier to remember Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon's time on the field than Pujols'.

2. Manning, Colts, 2004 AFC Divisional Playoff

In 2004, Manning had arguably the best regular season of any QB ever, throwing 49 TD's and a ridiculous 121.1 passer rating. In the first round of the playoffs, he torched Denver for 458 yards, and a perfect QB rating as the Colts punter never took the field. Against the Pats he was 27/42, 238 yds, 0TD's and 1 INT, which was actually a damn sight better than his 4 INTs game against them in the playoffs the year before. But the really terrible number Manning posted was on the scoreboard: New England 20 Indy 3.

1. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, 2004 ALCS

The poster child for superstars spitting the bit when it counts. A Rod had failed in the postseason before, but this is where his name became synonymous with failure in the clutch. He finished the series hitting .258 with 5 RBI in the 7 games. Not terrible numbers until you realize he didn't drive in a run after the 3rd inning of Game 4. And that sissy slap of the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand only served to distract us all from the fact that with his team in the middle of a historic collapse and needing a big hit, he rolled the ball the distance of a makeable birdie putt.