Every Game 7 of the NBA Finals in League History

The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder will soon meet in just the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history.

LeBron James blocks Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. / Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

This Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will face off in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

This is it. One game for all the marbles. 48 minutes of basketball and a title that will go down in history.

It’s the type of drama that sports fans dream of; one of the reasons games like this are so special is because they are so rare. Sunday’s contest will be just the 20th Game 7 in the history of the NBA Finals, and just the fifth in the last 30 years.

Take a look below at every NBA Finals Game 7 ever below:

Year	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score	Finals MVP
1951	Rochester Royals	New York Knicks	79–75	N/A
1952	Minneapolis Lakers	New York Knicks	82–65	N/A
1954	Minneapolis Lakers	Syracuse Nationals	87–80	N/A
1955	Syracuse Nationals	Fort Wayne Pistons	92–91	N/A
1957	Boston Celtics	St. Louis Hawks	125–123 (2OT)	N/A
1960	Boston Celtics	St. Louis Hawks	122–103	N/A
1962	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	110–107 (OT)	N/A
1966	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	95–93	N/A
1969	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	108–106	Jerry West
1970	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers	113–99	Willis Reed
1974	Boston Celtics	Milwaukee Bucks	102–87	John Havlicek
1978	Washington Bullets	Seattle SuperSonics	105–99	Wes Unseld
1984	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Lakers	111–102	Larry Bird
1988	Los Angeles Lakers	Detroit Pistons	108–105	James Worthy
1994	Houston Rockets	New York Knicks	90–84	Hakeem Olajuwon
2005	San Antonio Spurs	Detroit Pistons	81–74	Tim Duncan
2010	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	83–79	Kobe Bryant
2013	Miami Heat	San Antonio Spurs	95–88	LeBron James
2016	Cleveland Cavaliers	Golden State Warriors	93–89	LeBron James

Some fun things about this list jump out when viewed together.

First, man, these games are close. The past eight times the NBA Finals have gone to Game 7, the contest was decided by single digits. In 10 of the 19, it was five points or less.

Also, if you thought today’s Celtics fans were annoying, just imagine how brutal it must have been for everyone back in the 1960s, when Boston was edging out its fiercest rival (Los Angeles) time and time again in the biggest game imaginable.

One last note—the Finals MVP award was first given out in 1969, when Jerry West of the Lakers took the honors despite losing to the Celtics in seven games. To this day, he’s the only player to have won NBA Finals MVP despite losing the NBA Finals. Surely not the most fun piece of history to hold, but a piece of history nonetheless.

The last time we got a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, LeBron James produced the greatest highlight of his unmatched NBA career. What legends will be made this Sunday?

Game 7 between the Thunder and Pacers tips off at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday night in Oklahoma City.

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