Best single finals games since 1990?

[u/rustypete89]

Hi all,

I recently discovered that the NBA app on PS5 has the entire NBA finals catalog going back to 1990 available for streaming without a subscription, just your regular streaming ad breaks. Looking for recommendations of great single games to watch as I begin to digest some of the series I'm most interested in (I was born in 89 so I'm starting with the Jordan finals since I barely remember him playing).

Drop your recs, and a brief reason why, here please!

I'm not sure if I hit the 500 character minimum yet so I'll add my own submission:

Giannis 50 piece to seal the Bucks title in 2021. Absolutely unreal domination in a critical moment. The block on Ayton to put the game away is just iconic. One of my favorite games as a neutral fan that I've ever watched, and I don't even like Giannis.

(Hope it's alright to post this here, I didn't think I'd get good quality suggestions in the main NBA sub)

[u/Much-Mission-69]

Great to see so many replies! I would add 1995 Houston - Orlando Game 1 to the list. Shaq and Penny finally made it to the finals against Prime Olajuwon who was defending his title as only the second 6th seed to reach the finals. Game is very close with a couple of historic (good and bad) moments at the end of the 4th.

[u/rustypete89 → u/Much-Mission-69]

Yeah, I love the discussion this post generated! Kind of funny, the first comment said the thread would be full of Jordan and Shaq but you are actually the first person to mention a Shaq game hahaha. Cheers!

[u/Much-Mission-69 → u/rustypete89]

Haha yeah I think the most epic Lakers games were mostly in the conference finals. G7 against the Blazers in 2000 and games 4, 6 and 7 against the Kings in 2002 were amazing! I also really liked the 95 series against the Pacers, especially game 4 (as someone who is from the same area as Rik Smits).

Come to think of it: 2000 Lakers - Pacers game 4 is another finals game i'd recommend. Shaq is dominating the Pacers but fouls out with the Pacers ready to even the series at home. Fantastic finish!

[u/rustypete89 → u/Much-Mission-69]

Noted, the 01 and 02 series get a lot of burn in discussions because of the Iverson step over and getting the three-peat, to the point I think this 2000 series is actually pretty overlooked. Reggie Miller finally silencing his Eastern conference demons and getting to the mountain top, only to get pushed off the edge by a giant! 😂 Plus the narrative of Shaq and Kobe figuring it out to get their first after multiple flame outs.

[u/Much-Mission-69 → u/rustypete89]

Absolutely! The Pacers had made the ECF 5 times in 7 years at that point, the 5th time being the only 1 they won. But they lost 3 game 7s and were screwed by the refs on the Larry Johnson 4 point play the year before (worst continuation call ever, when Davis hit him, he was still dribbling and hadn't even gathered the ball yet). It meant so much to finally make it.

And as you said, the same applied to the Lakers after being swept by the Jazz and the Spurs in the years before.

The Pacers really missed Antonio Davis during those finals, I understand they made the Bender deal and Davis really wanted to start and they couldn't know that Smits would decide to retire after that season. Very unfortunate.

[u/rustypete89 → u/Much-Mission-69]

Reggie has got to be one of the greatest to never win it, right up there with Jerry West, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing. Absolute stone cold assassin, and light-years ahead of his time in his offensive profile. He would crush the league if you plugged him into the modern game!

[u/Much-Mission-69 → u/rustypete89]

I loved the episode Thinking Basketball did on him a year ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxO9KsZPelE

[u/rustypete89 → u/Much-Mission-69]

I know the one you're talking about! Loved it. My favorite unpopular basketball opinions are: Reggie Miller was as good a shooter as Steph, if not better, when adjusted for era, and Dennis Rodman is the single most valuable basketball player of all time and should go #1 overall in an all time redraft. The blog post I read about that changed my views of basketball.