Nearly a decade passed between NBA Finals that went the distance.
Sunday night’s Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers marked the first Finals to go seven games since 2016, when the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers finished off their historic series comeback against the Golden State Warriors.
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Despite that drought, there is a long history of Game 7s in the NBA Finals.
This year’s Finals was the 20th to require seven games, a stretch that dates back to the early 1950s, when the Knicks lost back-to-back Game 7s in 1951 and 1952.
That means there is no shortage of iconic Game 7 performances.
Here are some of the best in the history of the NBA Finals.
Bill Russell
There are plenty of options to choose from with Russell, who famously went 5-0 with the Boston Celtics in Game 7s in the Finals (and 10-0 in Game 7s overall).
But no statline was more gaudy than Russell’s 30-point, 40-rebound eruption in 1962, when his Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 110-107, in overtime.
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The 40 rebounds remain a Finals Game 7 record.
Russell also had 22 points and 35 rebounds in Game 7 in 1960, and 25 points and 32 rebounds in Game 7 in 1966.
Jerry West
Arguably the greatest Game 7 performance in NBA Finals history came in a losing effort.
West had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in 1969, but his Lakers lost that grand finale, 108-106, to the Celtics.
It was the first triple-double in Finals Game 7 history, and it remains the highest-scoring performance in a Finals Game 7.
Walt Frazier
It’s known as the Willis Reed game, but Game 7 of the 1970 Finals went down as Frazier’s finest moment.
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Frazier scored 36 points on 12-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds and 19 assists to lead the Knicks to a 113-99 win over the Lakers — and the first championship in franchise history.
The 19 assists remain a Finals Game 7 record.
James Worthy
The second triple-double in Finals Game 7 history also came courtesy of a Laker, with Worthy exploding for 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in a 108-105 win over the Detroit Pistons in 1988.
Magic Johnson had 19 points and 14 assists, while a 40-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had four points and three rebounds.
Worthy was named Finals MVP after his performance backed up coach Pat Riley’s championship guarantee and made the Lakers the first team to repeat in nearly two decades.
Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest and Pau Gasol
Game 7 of the 2010 Finals wasn’t the prettiest performance by Bryant, who shot just 6-of-24 from the field.
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But his co-stars stepped up in that 83-79 win over the Celtics, with Artest scoring 20 points in 46 minutes, including a dagger 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining off of a pass from Bryant.
Gasol added 19 points and 18 rebounds in 42 minutes.
And despite his shooting struggles, Bryant found a way to affect the game. In addition to his timely assist to Artest, Bryant made 11 free throws, finished with a game-high 23 points and corralled 15 rebounds in 44 minutes.
LeBron James
The 2013 Finals are best remembered for Ray Allen’s game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds of Game 6, which ultimately helped force a Game 7.
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But it was James’ Game 7 heroics that clinched the Miami Heat’s second consecutive championship.
James scored 37 points with 12 rebounds and four assists in a 95-88 win over the San Antonio Spurs to claim a title that largely validated his Heat superteam as an all-time great.
James and Kyrie Irving
And James would have more Game 7 magic in store.
James’ chase-down block on a fast-breaking Andre Iguodala kept the score tied with under two minutes left in his Cavaliers’ eventual 93-89 win over the Warriors in 2016.
That set the stage for Irving’s game-winning stepback 3-pointer over Stephen Curry with 53.0 seconds remaining.
James finished with 27 points, 11 rebound and 11 assists — the third triple-double in a Finals Game 7 — while Irving scored 26 points as Cleveland became the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
