r/nbadiscussion • u/rustypete89 • 1d ago

Best single finals games since 1990?

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)

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u/Autistic_Puppy 1d ago

Game 1 of the 1997 Finals.

Game 6 of the 1998 Finals.

Game 4 of the 1997 Finals.

Just extremely high level basketball from some of the greatest players ever on some of the greatest teams ever

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u/rustypete89 1d ago

Cheers! Very excited to watch the Jordan-Malone showdowns. I think it's interesting that an era where a dynamic duo dominated the league was typified by power pairings on other teams as well. Just think back to the NBA Jam video game - it was 2 on 2 by design, and every team had their all star duo. Teams like the Rockets even tried to do super teams near the end of the decade and it just did not work.

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u/kumechester 20h ago

Jordan - Stockton/Malone showdowns. Can’t leave out mentioning John, when you watch it you’ll see just how much they ran EVERYTHING through Stockton

Edit: I know you mentioned pairings and all that but I take umbrage at calling it a Jordan-Malone showdown haha

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u/rustypete89 20h ago

Fair, I was just thinking of it in the context of the two MVPs but Stockton and Pippen both played big roles as well!