It’s the best two words in sports: Game. Seven. And we’ve got a Game 7 in the NBA Finals on Sunday, as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will face off one last time to decide a winner, capping off what’s been one of the best Finals matchups we’ve had in recent years. It will be the first time the Finals has gone the distance since 2016, which was another instant classic in league history (more on that later).
For all the talk about how boring this year’s Finals matchup would be because of the small-market teams playing and the lack of major star power on either side, we’ve gotten some of the best playoff basketball in the last decade. Neither team has been able to find a sizable advantage that has sustained past a single game in this evenly contested matchup, something no one expected.
As we prepare for Game 7 on Sunday, let’s take a look back at every Finals matchup since the last Game 7 and rank them from worst to best.
10. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 4-0 (2018)
The most memorable thing about this matchup was LeBron James’ 51-point performance, which was squandered because J.R. Smith had poor situational awareness, thinking the Cavaliers were up as the clock ticked to zero.
It birthed one of the greatest sports meme’s ever, but like what happens with any television or movie series that drags on, the fourth iteration is never the best, and this one was the worst of the bunch. The Warriors got their second consecutive title, and it marked the end of James’ second era in Cleveland, as he headed to the Lakers that summer. This matchup didn’t have the same intrigue as the two previous times these teams met, and with it being the only sweep on the list, I have to put it at the bottom of this list.
9. Nuggets beat Heat, 4-1 (2023)
This one just felt like a mismatch. The Heat tried their best to provide some intrigue after stealing a win on the road in Game 2, but Denver rattled off three straight wins after that, proving this was never really that close to being with. Seeing Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets win their first title was awesome, but at the end of the day, this was just a five-game series that probably should’ve been a sweep. Nothing too dramatic here, but we did get some all-time great performances from Jokic and Jamal Murray to bring the Nuggets fans their first Larry O’Brien trophy.
8. Celtics beat Mavericks, 4-1 (2024)
On paper, this had the makings of a good Finals matchup, but the Celtics were a historically great team that the Mavericks could not match up well against. Luka Doncic tried to will Dallas to a win every game, but he got little to no help from the supporting cast. Meanwhile, the Celtics employed a roster where at any point in time, you’ve got five guys on the floor who can just flat out shoot 3s. It was a bit of a revenge moment for the Celtics, who fell in the Finals two years prior, and were finally able to climb to the mountaintop. But other than that, nothing really stands out in what was a heavily lopsided matchup.
7. Lakers beat Heat, 4-2 (2020)
The bubble championship was a wholly unique experience that, years from now, we’ll look back on and think about how crazy it was that the Lakers won a title without any fans in attendance. It will be a historical marker likely seen in history books to show the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just two years after joining the Lakers, James delivered the team’s first title since 2010, and perhaps more profoundly, the Lakers won this championship just nine months after Hall of Famer and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died tragically in a helicopter crash alongside his daughter, Gianna, and seven others. There were tons of emotions tied into this win for James and the Lakers, and while the Heat, led by Jimmy Butler, tried their best to challenge L.A., it felt like the Lakers were a team of destiny that year.
6. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 4-1 (2017)
It was the third straight meeting of these two teams in the Finals, and after the Warriors lost in 2016, they went out and added some reinforcements by acquiring Kevin Durant to really put this team over the top. All season long, the Warriors were very clearly the best team on the planet and had a historically great offense led by a three-headed monster in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Durant. Not to mention Draymond Green, who could anchor the defense and get you sporadic points on the other end. This was really Golden State’s to lose, and they proved to be the dominant force throughout, led by KD, who claimed his first NBA title and Finals MVP.
5. Raptors beat Warriors, 4-2 (2019)
This series would probably be even higher had it not been for Durant tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the series, and if Thompson hadn’t torn his ACL in Game 6. It really put a damper on what could’ve been an all-time great matchup, but there were still some memorable moments, led by Kawhi Leonard, who the Raptors traded for midway through the season to help deliver the franchise’s first title. But the most standout thing of this Finals run by the Raptors didn’t happen against the Warriors, but instead in the Eastern Conference finals against the 76ers, when Leonard hit one of the greatest game winners in league history in Game 7 to send the Raptors to the NBA Finals.
4. Warriors beat Celtics, 4-2 (2022)
Just when everyone said the Warriors dynasty was dead, Golden State proved everyone wrong. Stephen Curry delivered an all-time performance, averaging 31 points throughout the series, and finally won that elusive Finals MVP that he had previously lacked in his highly decorated trophy case. While it wasn’t the official end of the Curry-Thompson-Green Warriors, that came in the summer of 2024 when Thompson left to join the Dallas Mavericks, it will serve as a bookend of sorts for a trio that won four championships together over eight years.
We got some vintage moments from Curry in that series, like racking up 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6 to close the door on the Celtics to claim his fourth title.
It was perhaps the most impressive title in the Warriors dynasty, because despite the main guys still being there in Curry, Thompson and Green, it was certainly the most difficult. This happened when everyone was a little older and on the other side of their prime. Curry was just two years removed from a broken hand that kept him sidelined for all but five games in 2020. While Thompson was in his first full season back after missing two years due to a torn Achilles and torn ACL in back-to-back years. It may not be the first championship that will come to mind years from now when this team is talked about, but it’s probably the one that deserves the most respect.
3. Bucks beat Suns, 4-2 (2021)
It’s difficult to pick a single highlight from this series because there were just so many. There’s Giannis Antetokounmpo dropping 50 points in the closeout Game 6, then following that up by ordering 50 chicken nuggets at Chik-fil-A the following day to commemorate the moment. There’s also the insanely acrobatic block he had on Deandre Ayton in Game 4 of that series in crunch time, which helped Milwaukee tie the series up after falling behind 2-0 in the first two games.
Only Antetokounmpo is capable of the skill, awareness, and athletic ability required to recover in time to perfectly time this block and not foul. This play will forever be in his career highlight reel, and it was a moment that propelled the Bucks to win the next two games and close out Phoenix in six games.
2. Thunder vs. Pacers, TBD (2025)
There really is no contest for this spot in the ranking. What’s ironic is that heading into this matchup, everyone cried and complained about how easily the Thunder would be able to win this series against a Pacers team no one thought should be there. Many predicted a sweep, or a quick, lopsided five-game affair in favor of Oklahoma City. Instead, what we’ve gotten is the most thrilling Finals matchup in the last nine years, and would be atop this list had it not been for what’s occupying the No. 1 spot. For as much as people complained about there being two small-market teams in the Finals with no marquee names, we’ve gotten some truly spectacular performances from both sides.
There was Tyrese Haliburton’s latest buzzer-beating (almost) game-winning shot to steal Game 1 on the road.
There was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showing everyone exactly why he was named MVP this season by dropping 15 points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 4 to give the Thunder a road win to tie up the series.
And the many, many highlights from the likes of Jalen Williams, who is doing his best Scottie Pippen impression, and TJ McConnell who may very well get a statue in his name if the Pacers win this whole thing. This has been an NBA Finals matchup that was made for real basketball fans who enjoy underdog stories, unlikely comebacks and legacy-making performances. It’s only fitting we get a Game 7 at this point, and regardless of how it ends, it will stand as one of the best Finals matchups we’ve had in recent history.
1. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 4-3 (2016)
“Cleveland, this is for you!” That line will forever be etched in my mind as James called out after his Cavaliers pulled off the unthinkable in 2016. Not only did Cleveland beat a Warriors team that just finished off the regular season with a 73-9 record, the best mark of any team in league history, but they did it after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit. The Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to not just come back to force a Game 7 after being down 3-1, but also the first team to win in that situation.
It is still the championship James says means the most to him, and for good reason. James returned to the Cavaliers after a controversial decision to leave his hometown team to join the Miami Heat in 2010. After tasting success with the Heat in the form of two titles, James set a goal to return to Cleveland in hopes of delivering not just the Cavaliers their first championship, but the city of Cleveland its first professional sports title ever.
He did it in the most dramatic, movie-esque way possible by going against the Goliath Warriors who just spent the whole season dominating every other team in the league. Golden State also dominated the Cavaliers through the first four games of this series, but then LeBron put on his cape and delivered his most impressive playoff performance ever. He averaged 36.3 points over the last three games of that series, with two 41-point performances. He practically averaged a triple-double too, putting up over 11 boards and nearly 10 assists during that stretch and delivered the most iconic block in NBA Finals history.
It was perhaps the best Finals we’ve seen at least in the last 25 years, and it’s the last Game 7 we’ve had until now between the Pacers and Thunder. We may not get something this thrilling on Sunday, given everything that led up to that Game 7 in 2016, but it’s pretty difficult to beat this series when you had so many baked-in storylines that made it one of the best NBA Finals matchups we’ve ever seen.
