The NBA Finals is always an exciting time. It’s the culmination of an entire season, the end or beginning of many storylines, as well as the place where legacies are both ruined and made. The stakes are extremely high and, for NBA players, the lights are never brighter.
That being said, not all Finals are terribly exciting. Blowouts do happen, and sometimes one team is completely outmatched. The other championships, however, tend to be incredibly exciting.
There have been many nail-biting or memorable Finals in NBA history, including the Bulls closing out their second three-peat against the Jazz, the Cavaliers comeback against the Warriors, and when Larry Bird led the Celtics over the Lakers in 1984.
Those series standout because they helped shape the league and made it what it is today. Each had close games, huge stars, and a few all-time performances. A finals series doesn’t just need excitement to be memorable, it has to matter as well.
1998 NBA Finals: Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz
There have been a few big NBA Finals, but almost none had the stakes or the drama as when the Bulls defeated the Jazz in 1998. Michael Jordan and company faced off against an incredibly tough Utah team on their way to get their second three-peat in eight years.
The road wasn’t easy. Game five, where Jordan put on an incredible scoring display despite battling the flu, is still regarded as one of the most impressive efforts of all time. In fact, the “Flu Game” helped cement his legacy and pushed the Bulls to an all-time great team.
On top of that, Jordan concluded game six with one of the most impressive and memorable shots in NBA history to give his team the lead with five seconds left. That iced the series, and marked the last game the legend ever played in Chicago.
While Jordan did come back to the NBA a few years later, the series marked the end of an era and firmly placed the guard as the undisputed greatest player of all time. Almost no one has ever gone out on such a high note.
2016 NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors
Another series of one team fighting against incredible odds came in 2016, when the seemingly outmatched Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves down 3-1 against the 73-win Warriors who just came off the best regular season of all time.
Despite having LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, nobody gave the Cavaliers much of a chance against the incredibly resilient Warriors squad. However, Cleveland didn’t just battle back, they pushed the Warriors to the brink and finished one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history.
LeBron dominated on both sides of the ball, while Kyrie Irving put on multiple scoring clinics to fend off the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. That led to a series of close games, that the Warriors couldn’t quite close out.
The reversal is the only time a team has won a championship after being down 3-1. That alone made the series memorable, but it was even more so due to the fact that it went all the way down to the wire in game 7 before the Cavs eked it out.
1984 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers
There were many memorable moments in Magic Johson and Larry Bird’s legendary rivalry, but few were more iconic than the 1984 Championship. The series was an intense battle between two great teams led by two equally great players.
Everyone on both sides got involved in the action, showing off the best the league had to offer on its biggest stage. It perfectly encapsulated the Bird vs. Magic rivalry and revealed to the world just how exciting basketball could be.
The series went to seven games, with Boston winning the last one at home in a close match. That alone put it at the top of the best NBA Finals series, but the sheer fanfare and big names are why it’s remembered so fondly.
The win put Bird as one of the best players in the league, and sparked what would become one of the greatest rivalries of all time. It perfectly encapsulated 80’s basketball, and pushed the league forward in a big way.
2008 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers
While the Celtics/Lakers dynasty dominated the 80’s, the rivalry faded out during the next two decades. It didn’t come back to the world stage until 2008, when The Big Three Celtics matched up against Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol’s lakers.
Both squads were primed for a championship, as both were filled with strong all stars and powerful playmakers. However, the Celtics finished off the Lakers during a strong game six where they brought Boston their first championship since 1986.
The victory cemented the power of superteams and put Boston back in the center of the sports world. It’s long remembered as one of the greatest NBA Finals, not just because of the close games and huge stakes, but because of the numerous stars playing for the ultimate goal.
1979-1980 NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers vs Philadelphia 76ers
There are many reasons an NBA series might be memorable. Sometimes it’s a big play, sometimes it’s the stakes, and sometimes it’s an individual performance. That’s the case with the 1979 Finals, which put the then-rookie Magic Johnson officially on the map.
With the series tied 2-2, league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went down with an ankle sprain in game five. Though he battled through the pain and gave Los Angeles the win, he couldn’t come back for game six.
That was a big blow for the Lakers, but they still came out strong and closed it out thanks to one of the greatest performances in NBA history. Magic Johnson put the team on his back, playing all five positions and scoring 42 points. That put his mark on history.
Themes in Memorable Finals
The above finals series are all from distinctly different periods, but they are still intrinsically linked. That’s because in order to be an all-time great championship there are a few criteria that each of the best NBA Finals series must meet.
The biggest of those is historical significance. The truly remarkable championships all either cemented or began a certain player’s legacy in such a way that every fan and media personality remembers where they were when they occurred.
It wasn’t just a player doing well in the Finals, it was a player going truly above and beyond. LeBron coming back from down 3-1, or Larry Bird taking down the Showtime Lakers are two examples of that greatness.
Memorable finals also tend to be extremely dramatic. Series that wrap up in four or five games are never going to have the reputation of ones that go for six or a full seven. The more games, the more storylines, and the more excitement.
That also allows coaches and players to adjust as a series goes on. Teams can be down and then come back to win, or players can make shifts in their game that can turn the tide of a series. In such situations, everything has much higher stakes.
Clutch plays and game-winning shots matter too. While most series are remembered as a whole, individual plays like LeBron’s block or Jordan’s shot are immortalized because of how much they meant to the entire series.
Conclusion
The NBA is an exciting league with a lot of drama. The finals take that to another level. Everyone plays for a ring. It’s the culmination of an entire season, and helps separate good players from truly great or iconic ones.
The above series stand out from the pack because they helped shape entire legacies, came down to the wire, and cemented a few big names in NBA history. Players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James would not be the same without them.
However, as memorable as those championships were, there are many great teams in the current league, as well as a range of up-and-coming stars. The league’s only gotten more competitive with time, and there’s no telling what exciting finals may occur in the future.
There are many exciting talents currently on the cusp of greatness. All it would take is for one finals to push them to the next level. In a few years, such series could be as memorable as any of the others on the above list.
