As you all well know by now this Sunday will be, that's right, Game 7. The scariest game of all time. This is the game where its do or die. Lay it all on the line. The prize will be given to the team that has scored the most points. This is for the jersey that you wear. This is for the community that has supported you since day one. So since this Sunday is Game 7 I thought that I would do a list of my top 10 favorite basketball Game 7s in the last 20 years.(as well as one honorable mention). And I know what your thinking why the last 20 years? Well its simple really, I am 26 years old and so there are 5 years to me that don't really count and I can only really remember the last 20 years because doing the research takes a lot of time. And I have only 4 more hours until this article is due. So i hope that you enjoy this list and remember to share this list and like it.
Honorable Mention: So we start off with our Honorable Mention and it was not easy to make this decision. So coming in on the Honorable Mention is Game 7 in the 2000 Conference Semifinals between the Miami Heat and The New York Knicks. The series itself by looking at the score was incredible. Game 1 had 83-87 in favor of Miami, Game 2 was 82-76 in favor of New York and in Game 3 Miami took the two games to one series lead over the Knicks by outscoring them by one point 77-76. In Game 4 when the Knicks needed to comeback against the Heat being down in the series by one game they did and won by 8 points. the most points that either team scored in this series. 91 to 83. And but when it looked all was lost and the Knicks had the Heat on the rope the Heat would squeak out a win again 87-81. The best part about this series the road team only won twice on the road and that was New York Knicks evening the series up at one game apiece and then taking the series in Miami by one point 83-82, in what looked like a great series.
So now that we have the Honorable Mention lets start this Party of Right.10. The 2001 Philadelphia 76er's against the Toronto Raptors. The 76er's had clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference that year with a 56-26 record coached under the Hall of Famer Larry Brown. The Raptors just came out of a five-game series with the New York Knicks. And in Game 1 Toronto wanted to keep their winning streak alive by stealing game 1 in Philly 96-93 victory. What the real story about this series was, the match-up between two greats and one day Hall of Famers Vince Carter and Allen Iverson. Both scored 50 points in one and only one player, the MVP of the league that year scored 50 points twice in this series. The series went back and forth for a while until the seventh game and it was one of the stars that ended up losing it for his team. When Carter had the ball for the last shot at the buzzer and it bounced off the rim as time expired this gave the 76ers the win and went on to lose in the finals against the Lakers.
9. This one happened in the 2004-05 Conference Finals between the Defending Champions in the Detroit Pistons taking on the up-and-coming Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. These two teams were battling each other all year long for the best record in the conference and now they would do battle against each other to see who would represent the Eastern Conference in the Finals. This was a series between two teams, in that one was on the verge of something great when they picked up Shaq on the free agent market in the Heat and one that was in your face defensively and made you make mental mistakes and pay for it. In Game 7 it was Chauncey Billups that received his nickname Big Shot Billups who helped the Pistons seal the deal by making all four of his finals Free Throws. This helped Detroit in securing their spot in the Finals once again. (We would continue this but it already on this list so we will stop right here.)
8. In the 2006 NBA playoffs San Antonio clinched the best record in the Western Conference but did not expect to play a seven-game series with the Dallas Mavericks. It was the Conference Semifinals and the Spurs were the defending champions. Dallas swept their way into the second round and the Spurs had to play six games against a pesky Sacramento Kings. In this series, Games 1, 3 and 5 all were decided by a combined four-point victory. Two of the Games went into overtime, including the decisive seventh game which the Mavericks went on to win but lost in the Finals against the Miami Heat.
7. Unlikely jazz hands? That's right you heard me, on this list we have the Utah Jazz and no, not because they have a great name. But they played a great series. In the 2007 NBA playoffs the Heat were the champions from the previous year and the Jazz won 51 games which led to them winning the division. They were the fourth-seeded team in the Western Conference and had to face Tracy Magraddy and the Houston Rockets. Sounds fun right? Actually the Jazz were led by Deron Williams who at the time was one of the best point guards. Carlos Boozer, who wasn't the worst power forwards but had/has the ugliest shot I have ever seen. (No offense, Carlos). However in the Game 6 victory they were led by his offensive side by leading the way with 35 points. Probably his best career game in the playoffs.
6.Just like it says up top, the Brooklyn Nets faced the Toronto Raptors in 2014. The Nets picked up not only a great new stadium that year in Brooklyn (which is why their name changed), but they also picked up two future Hall of Famers in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Also they added another future Hall of Famer to coach them in Jason Kidd. They went 44-38 in their first year together and in their first playoff series together they really had to come together as a team or they would be bullied out of the first round by the Raptors. Brooklyn stole Game 1 in Toronto 94-87. In all honesty this series could have gone either way but it was the block by Pierce that helped the Nets survive this series, only to meet King James and lose in the next series 4-1.
5. The 2013 NBA Finals.Everyone that knows me should know that it really pains me to put this on this list, but because it is a list for Game 7s, this has to be on here. This series was such a roller coaster. You had Game 1 that sealed the deal, thanks to Tony Parker letting the ball go at his fingertips before the shot clock expired, which gave the Spurs Game 1 victory. But the Heat would bounce right back and block the crap out of Splitter's apparent dunk. In Game 3 San Antonio would make a new record with 16 three-pointers made in a single game, and winning 113-77. In Game 5 the Spurs became the first team to shoot at least 60 percent in an NBA Finals game. And of course everyone knows the crazy last few seconds of Game 6, when the Spurs were about five seconds away from winning the title only to have it taken away from them by the three ball from Ray Allen.
4. As I said before on this list, we have now reached that moment. In 2005 it was labeled Champion vs. Champion. Both teams had won the title; the Spurs in '03 and the Pistons in '04, so it was only fitting that both of these teams meet in the Finals. Both teams were second in their conference but neck-and-neck in all statistical categories. The Spurs struck first by winning the first two games. However the Pistons recovered and won the next game at home to tie the series up at two games apiece. It was Game 5 when finally a road team would win in overtime by one point, and of course it was Robert Horry who came up big for the Spurs. And in the final game, Game 7, it was Old Man Riverwalk who sealed the deal for the Spurs and captured their third title in six years.
3. In 1995 it was the New York Knicks taking on the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Semi-Finals. This series had quite a few stars in like Patrick Ewing, Bryon Scott, Hubert Davis, Greg Anthony, Marc Jackson, Reggie Miller and Spike Lee. These two teams were already rivals since 1977 and in 1995 it got much more heated. It was Game 1 that most people will remember when Reggie scored eight points in 18.7 seconds. But that was just the start of it in Game 5 Reggie with the series tied at two games apiece, Reggie Miller went to score 39 points including hitting a three-pointer in the corner and starts to talk with Spike Lee. But later on it was Reggie who really stirred up the pot when he gave a choked signal to Spike about his Knicks. And Reggie would end up being right. When it came down to it in Game 7, Ewing inbounded the ball drove in the paint and missed the game tying layup as time expired.
2. "We ain't going nowhere."Those words were said in this past Conference Finals during Game 5 between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma Thunder. The Thunder and Warriors met to do battle one more time. This was the series that the Thunder wanted all along to get to the Finals. The Warriors embarrassed the Thunder too many times and they wanted to get revenge on them. In Game 1 the Thunder stole it by winning by six points. But it was Game 3 and 4 where things started to go south for the defending Champs when they lost 133-105 and 118-94. It was the first time all season that they had lost back-to=back games and on the brink of elimination. But Game 5 was at home a do or die atmosphere for the Warriors and their fans. And when push came to shove the Warriors and the two-time MVP Answered and said, "We ain't going nowhere!" And they didn't. They stole Games 5 and 6 from the Thunder and even when the Thunder had an 11-point lead on the Warriors in Game 7, they took that away too and would win by 12 points, becoming the tenth team out of 233 to over come a 3-1 deficit.
1. Mamba's last ride. Now you may think that this is biased, and you're probably right. This is my list. I can do what I want. And I choose this one for several reasons. In 2008 Kobe Bryant suffered his worst NBA Finals loss ever to the hands of the Boston Celtics. It was rough watching it. The Celtics in Game 6 of that season huffed and puffed and blew down the house on the Lakers that year. Then the Lakers went on to win in 2009 and defended it well when the Mamba was at his absolute best. In 2010, this to me was one of the best Finals I ever watched. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have been a rivalry since the 1950s. This was the 12th time that both of these teams met in the Finals, with the Celtics leading the overall record with 9 wins and the Lakers with 2. Both teams met in the regular season each winning on each others court. Lakers took Game 1 with a double-digit victory. While the Celtics had Ray Allen and tie the series up at one game apiece while setting a new record with 3-pointers made in a finals game by an single player. In Game 3 the unlikely hero was Derek Fisher who scored 11 points in the final quarter to give the Lakers the 91 to 84 victory. The Celtics wound up winning the next 2 games which lead to the Celtics leading the series before heading back to LA with a three games to two lead. In Game 6 the crushing blow came to the Celtics with Kendrick Perkins leg injury mid way through the game which led to the Lakers winning Game 6 and forcing Game 7. Even though Kobe had 23 points and not great scoring output it was Ron Artest that gave the Lakers the push that they needed to win and overcome the lead that the Celtics had. Kobe goes on to win his fifth ring and the Lakers win their 16th ring while beating their rivals in the process.
