June 20, 2025 • 46 mins
Nick Wright reacts to Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers' 108-91 win over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder to force Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Nick breaks down why Indiana's win, and these NBA Playoffs in general, have been shocking to him. Later, he recaps the history of Game 7s in the NBA Finals and shares his predictions for Pacers-Thunder! #Volume
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Right Game six NBA
Finals reaction show, and this is not the show I
expected to be doing. As Bet of the Year goes
down in Flames. I have been just wildly wrong, and
at this point I have to admit it's not just
been I have been saying. It hasn't been disrespect to
(00:23):
the Pacers, and it certainly hasn't been intentional disrespect to
the Pacers, it has been massive respect to the Thunder.
As to why I thought this series would be done
in probably five at most six, why I thought yesterday,
even though the Pacers were at home, even though we
(00:44):
have seen the Thunder in these playoffs kind of play
around with one of these Game sixes, I thought that
this was going to be a Thunder route, and I
laid out a very specific way I thought the Pacers
would have to win, which is, you know, you're not
gonna be able to slow down the Thunders offense, so
you're just gonna have that out score them. Miles Turner's
(01:06):
gonna have to have a huge game, and basically everything
was wrong. Miles Turner went one for nine. You did
absolutely stifle the Thunder offense. You made the Thunder. Look young,
You made Jet look like he was not ready for
the moment. Jalen Williams J. Dubb has the worst plus
(01:28):
minus in Finals history, a nice ripe minus forty for
the game. The league MVP Shay, who scored twenty plus
in like eighty something consecutive games, barely gets over that
threshold with just twenty one, and the Pacers in despite
(01:51):
no one breaking twenty until the waning moments of garbage
time and Obi Top and Jumper put him at twenty.
The Pacers basically wire to wire the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That game was ten to two Oklahoma City and then
(02:15):
the rest of the because what was the halftime score.
Halftime score was sixty four to forty two, so the
rest after the ten to to start, Indiana beat them
in the first half sixty two to thirty two. And
now we have the twentieth Game seven in NBA Finals history,
(02:37):
just the first game seven since the twenty sixteen Cabs
against the Warriors, and we are one game away from
what is, in my opinion, without a doubt, the greatest
upset in NBA history, and it would be in the
you know, per the bookmakers tied with the Pistons beating
(03:02):
the Lakers in four. But that series by the Lakers
were all of a sudden. They were an old team
that was dealing with injuries by that series, and now
they trounced the Lakers. But this, to me is more shocking.
A Thunder team that was absolutely rolling at every step
(03:25):
of the season, that took back control of the series
in Game four, I thought put their foot on the
Pacers throat in Game five. To just get annihilated like that,
and to now be on the brink of what would
(03:50):
be an all time missed opportunity and a collapse for
the Ages. I understand that we have. There's been plenty
of teams that have been up three to two in
the finals and lost. I get that now. There have
only been four teams to lose a Game seven of
(04:10):
the Finals at home. They would be the fifth. But
the one three to one comeback we've seen in the Finals,
it was part collapsed by Golden State and part the
greatest player of all time just got to his greatest
peak of all time over a week of basketball. That's
(04:32):
not what this is. It's not that holy shit, Pascal
Siakam or Tyrese Haliburton are just activating a new level.
It is the Pacers as a whole are last night
(04:52):
where the hungrier team the obviously the more desperate team,
but the more put together team. Now, what I will
say is, thus far this series and maybe this is
something the Thunder can lean on, thus far, this series
has gone beat four beat like then the Thunder Nuggets
(05:18):
series did. Game one, Thunder Nuggets Thunder loose on a
buzzer beater. Game one Thunder Pacers Thunder loose on a
buzzer beater. Game two Thundernuggets, Thunder blow out the Nuggets
by that one by forty. Game two of the Finals,
Thunder blow out the Pacers. Game three, the Thunder loose
(05:44):
a heartbreaker in overtime in Denver. Game three, the Thunder
loose tough game in Indiana. Game four, it looks like,
oh my god, or the Thunder gonna go down three one,
and they kind of claw their way back and win
the game by five. Game four of this series, Oh
(06:07):
my God, or the Thunder gonna go down three to one,
they claw their way back and win by seven. Game
five of that series, the Thunder win by seven. In
round two. Game five of this series, the Thunder win
by eleven. And then Game six, the Thunder got blown
out in Denver and not to this degree. And Game
(06:29):
six of this series the Thunder got blown out. So
they have this exact pacing of a series. And they
then came out and beat the Nuggets by thirty two
points to move on. And you could say, and in
(06:50):
that series is one of the Nuggets key players was
dealing with an injury and Aaron Gordon and in this series,
Tyrese Haliburn's dealing with an injury. He sure didn't look
hurt last night, as Hugh. That was the best beginning
of a game halliburtons had all series. He didn't end
up having to play huge minutes. And now he's got
(07:12):
two more days, and all of a sudden, the Thunder
have two days to think about the fact that, oh
my god, whether they were allowing their minds to drift
there or not, dynasty was thrown around. Obviously, Shay's place
(07:34):
in basketball history was being thrown around. We threw around,
Jalen Williams, Jadub being comped to Scottie Pippen, all of it.
And now you go into a Game seven where who
on the Thunder is feeling great about how they're playing,
(08:00):
and the Chet thing is to me a massive red flag.
Now part of that, I will admit might be confirmation
biased for me because I have always been probably more
Chet skeptical than most. But Chet was brutal last night.
(08:22):
Four points, two of nine from the field, no blocks,
no impact on the game. Hartenstein wasn't brutal, but no
impact on the game. So you're two bigs. Not played
off the court necessarily, but just not it. No thrust,
(08:47):
and that the way the Pacers like there was there
was a the start of the second half was really
fascinating to me. And I apologie guys for bouncing around.
It's what I'm gonna do. It's kind of how I
do it. If Demonsy's not here, I don't have like
a regular train of thought. Also, by the way we
(09:09):
are going to do at the end of this podcast,
we'll do it as quickly as we can, but I
think it'll be a good time capsule. And I also
think it's just a good way to pay tribute to
the fact that there's only been twenty of these in
(09:31):
the history of the league. Game seven of the Finals,
where we're gonna bang bang bang, go through all twenty,
it'll be less than a minute on each. It might
be ten seconds on some of them, but fifteen of
the twenty are really historic touchstone moments in league history,
(09:53):
and almost all of the contemporary ones have either and
i ic moment or are the defining moment of an
iconic player's career, and we're getting one for the first
time in nearly a decade. But to get back to
what I was saying, down twenty two to start the
second half, here are well up twenty two, I should say,
(10:19):
here are the Pacers possessions. Siaka miss jumper, turner, miss jumper,
turner miss three, Haliburton miss three, uh, Siakam missed layup,
Nie Smith, miss jumper, nim Hard miss jumper, turnover Nie Smith.
Those opening four minutes, the Pacers got nothing at the
(10:46):
rim except for Siakam, and he missed turned the ball over,
got no steals, drew no fouls, or drew one foul,
but was off the ball. That was if the Thunder
were if they had come into the game over confident,
(11:07):
and then they have halftime to reset with the goal
being guys. We came back from basically ten down in
the fourth quarter game five or Game four, pardon me,
let's just get twenty two to sixteen by the under
seven time out and reframe the game that was. Those
(11:34):
were their opportunities, but unfortunately for them, their offensive possessions
were some of the ugliest basketball the Thunder have played
all year. A late shot clock lou Dort three, an
(11:54):
early shot clock lou Dort three, a turnover by Shay
so I guess there was one turnover, A Jalen Williams
Jada missed three, Crusoe blocked at the rim, a bad
miss by check from three, another lou Dort missed three,
(12:18):
and then Halliburton hits the layup in Oklahoma City calls
time out. No great possessions, no shots from the league MVP.
The team was shook, and I don't know how this
is going to land with the Pacers. I'm sorry with
(12:39):
the Thunder for Game seven. I still believe the Thunder
are going to win. I still believe the Thunder are
the right side. But hand up here, I have just
been dead ass wrong on a lot these playoffs, and
I have been wildly wrong this uh, these NBA Finals,
(13:04):
and it is just such a unique game where who
on the Pacers played great, played a great game. I don't.
I guess you could say Obi Toppin hit a bunch
of big threes, scored twenty. I I thought Siakam was
(13:28):
gonna have to score thirty. He scored sixteen. Now I
understand all of this is warped a bit by the
fact that in the fourth quarter, you know, I can
pull it up real quick in the fourth quarter, the
Thunder or the Pacers are the Thunder didn't play any
of their starters at all in the fourth quarter, and
(13:49):
the Pacers barely played their guys any in the fourth quarter.
So this was a three quarter game. But still offensively,
nozh one on the Thunder on the Pacers had a
monster game defensively, they all did, and it was all
(14:13):
of the Thunder or the Pacers. I keep getting the wrong.
I apologize Pacers offensive X factors. Well, their two biggest
offensive X factors, Mattherin and Turner combined to go two
for fifteen over eight from three. They won. Anyway, That's
what is so terrifying for Oklahoma City. Weird shit happens
(14:35):
in game sevens and there's never been a player that's
walked into a game seven more do for a big
night than Miles Turner. It just hasn't like. And I'm
gonna keep banging the Miles Turner drum because I believe
in his talent, I believe in his ability, and he
(14:56):
has been impactful for them defensively and as a rim
protector the last few games. They're only like consistent other
than Siakam offensive forces McConnell who McConnell has got his
game straight out of the Sean Livingston playbook of I'm
going to somehow awkwardly get my way to a ten
(15:21):
twelve fourteen foot jumper. It's going to be they have
very different releases, but I'm going to have I'm the
only player in the league that shoots the way I shoot,
and it's going to feel automatic. And McConnell with another
nice six for twelve, twelve points, nine rebounds, six assists
(15:43):
for Steels. What a damn game by him. And so
that's how we got here. And I know it sounds
like from everything I'm saying, like, so I'm going for
the Pacers. I picked the thunder I found myself last night.
I think it's an unbelievable story if the Pacers win
(16:03):
this championship an unprecedented, unbelievable story. Now, how can the
thunder hold them off? We'll do that in a moment,
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Speaker 1 (18:01):
All right for the Thunder again, this is going to
sound surface level, but it's reality. This has to be
Game seven has to be a game where the discussion
(18:23):
on TV Monday morning and afternoon. For the Thunder, the
discussion is did SGA just give himself a legitimate claim
to best player a lot. That's got to be it.
(18:46):
And by the way, if you go back, and we're
going to do this in longer form in a few minutes,
but if we go back through the game seven's the
(19:07):
guy who the last. My god, it's close to ten
when we've walked off the court after that Game seven.
For a lot of people, the best player alives been
walking off with the championship. Lebron sixteen, Lebron thirteen, Kobe
(19:34):
twenty ten. It was a debate, but he just won
back to back championships. I wasn't good in that Game seven,
but a lot of people obviously believe Kobe was best
player alive than five Duncan ninety four, a Team eighty eight,
Magic eighty four Bird like those Game sevens with and
(20:06):
I'm not picking on Kobe, but he was just an
outlier where he was six of twenty four those game sevens.
The through line has been a guy who either had
a stranglehold on best player alive or a guy who
was arguably best player alive he took it. There have
(20:31):
been a few great ones where in twenty sixteen and
in I guess you could argue ninety four and certainly
in eighty four where the two guys who were arguing
best player alive bird Magic a keeam Ewing Ewing really
(20:53):
wasn't quite that class. But if he had won, maybe
we'd been saying it. And then obviously Lebron Curry, it's
like it's levitating above the arena, the figurative title belt.
Can you go grab it? Now, that's not the case
here because there's no one on the Pacers that if
they win, we're like, Bam, that guy's the best player
in the league. But that's what that's what's in front
(21:21):
of Shad Now. He can't do it on his own,
and all year long, as great as he's been, he's
never had to do it on his own. But that
Thunder defense needs to wake back up and those Thunder
role players. I think j will be good. Let me
(21:41):
say that on the front end. The forty piece he
dropped in Game five. He's going to be back at home.
He seems so even keeled. I think he'll be good.
I think Shay'll be good. I don't know who else
is going to be good. And I am interested because
(22:06):
this I think does tilt things in the Thunder's favor.
Refs never want a Game seven to be choppy and
a bunch of fouls, And I thought early in this game,
(22:28):
I thought it was a very fair whistle and it
wasn't like a crazy amount of free throws in either direction.
But I thought they made it pretty clear early in
this game that they're gonna call it maybe a little
tighter than the Thunder would like. And I think it
impacted Dort and Crusoe's ability defensively, and that obviously huge
(22:50):
advantage because of that to Indiana. But if the Thunder
don't win this championship, I just don't it feels like
(23:16):
such a crushing, crushing blow and all reference twenty sixteen. Again, yes,
they had won seventy three games and they were up
three to one, but they had a title in their
back pocket. And so when we think about the shocking
(23:44):
finals defeats, the most and the most crushing Finals defeats,
nineteen sixty nine is the answer to that and more
on that game. Oddly in a bit, but Celtics over
(24:07):
Lakers in Russell's final game ever because it was like,
I guess, you know, we're never We're never going to
have a better team. We're never going to be better positioned,
We're never going to be a bigger favorite, and we
still can't get over the hump. Now, that wouldn't be
this because the Lakers lost the Celtics a half dozen
(24:29):
times at that point or close to it. But this,
this can be a just a seismic event, or it
can be. Listen, we got a little ahead of ourselves
in Game six. We were a little you know, thinking
(24:53):
about the party and the celebration, and the Pacers said,
you know, we're not laying down, and we knew we
had that Game seven at home in our back pocket,
but man, you better thing win. I this would be
(25:17):
like another I'll cross sport.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
One of the biggest, the biggest upsets in recent Super
Bowl history, the Giants and seven beating the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It's unfathomable. But for the most important parties with the
Patriots other than Randy Moss, they had championships already, or
when the Patriots beat the Rams in one, the Rams
had won the championship two years prior. I'm I'm just
(25:58):
kind of struggling to find and I'm sure it exists,
but like this level of upset, the thunder were minus
two thousand to win the title yesterday. They were minus
seven hundred at the start of the series, and they
(26:21):
were hell they were minus seven hundred after Game four.
It just I don't know what it does to an
organization if they don't win this. Meanwhile, if there has
ever been a team that walks into a Game seven
(26:44):
as crazy as this sounds, with no pressure, it's the Pacers.
I don't know that that actually exists, but if it does,
this is it. And so I I am anxious for
(27:07):
the thunder and I don't even care, like I have
no connection or affinity for I can't wait to see
how Shaye handles it and to set that up. And
this will be this will We're gonna the thing we're
(27:29):
gonna do next we will clip as its own YouTube video.
It will not do well on YouTube, however, for real
diehard NBA fans, I hope for years it's kind of
a something people stumble upon where they are searching for
(27:54):
the history of game sevens in the NBA Finals, and
then they watch the ten minutes or so we're about
to do, because we'll go through all of them, and
like I said, the vast majority have something iconic about them.
But before we do that, a message from our friends
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five G speeds not available in all areas. Okay, so
(29:19):
I let me see. Is this going to block the camera?
It's not. I'll be looking down a bit here. But
so I made kind of the I just went through
this morning, the nineteen prior Game seven's in NBA history,
(29:39):
and what's the what's better if I'm looking over here
looking down, I'll look down because I obviously I don't
have these set to memory with all the details. But
here is to set the table for the twentieth Game
seven in NBA Finals history. How we got here, so
(30:02):
to speak. We will spend obviously less time on the
very early ones, but if you want, if you're a
sports history nerd like me, this should be fun. I'll
try to go through the uninteresting ones as quickly as possible.
First one ever nineteen fifty one, Rochester Royals beat the
(30:23):
Knicks seventy nine to seventy five. Give you a context
for how different the league was back then. Two different
guys named Arnie started this basketball game, and the first
ever kind of like hard luck star in the NBA,
Max Zislovsky pardon me for the Knicks, was involved in
that game. Nineteen fifty two, the Minneapolis Lakers beat the
(30:47):
New York Knicks. That was, if it wasn't already official
before the official arrival of the NBA's first true superstar,
George Mikeen Miken averaged twenty two to eighteen for the series,
and in that game seven had twenty two points in
nineteen rebounds. Those same Minneapolis Lakers in nineteen fifty four
(31:07):
beat the Syracuse Nationals eighty seven eighty. That's another Micing championship,
his fifth ring and the league's first three peat and
then one last one. That is really kind of the
BC era of NBA basketball. The nineteen fifty five Syracuse
Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons ninety two to ninety one.
(31:29):
We don't really have to get into it, but NBA
history nerds know this. This might be fun for people
who aren't. That game was probably rigged, and I don't
mean rigged by the refs, I mean again allegedly possibly.
I don't know who knows, it seems sure seems like
the newspaper writers and the people who covered that game
(31:52):
thought Fort Wayne through the game, they were on the take.
And that was at a time when that stuff kind
of happened as old CCNY thing. But so again, those
four uh, you've got the first ever Game seven with
Rochester beating New York. You then have kind of the
mic and era. You then have Dolph Jays and the
(32:12):
Syracuse Nationals beating the Fort Wayne Pistons in a game
that could not be played in Fort Wayne's arena because
Fort Wayne had rnted out the arena and the game
might have been thrown. Okay, now, not to modern era, obviously,
but all of the other The next handful of Game
seven's involve one main character, Bill Russell and his Boston Celtics.
(32:36):
Nineteen fifty seven, the Celtics beat the Saint Louis Hawks
one twenty five, one twenty three in double overtime, Russell's
rookie year. It's Russell versus Robert E. Lee Pettitt Junior,
which is also known as Bullet Bob Bettett. It's an
all time series, it's an all time game, and it
(32:56):
is the beginning of the Celtics dynasty. A Games seven,
double overtime two point victory over the guy A lot
of people thought it was the best player in the
league in Bob Pettitt. That's nineteen fifty seven. Nineteen sixty,
the Celtics beat the Saint Louis Hawks, same Hawk, same
Bob Pettitt won twenty two to one oh three. Bill
Russell with a nice, smooth twenty two point thirty five
(33:19):
rebound performance for the Celtics. That was their third title
and second in a row. Two years later, and this
is going to be a theme, the Boston Celtics beat
the Los Angeles Lakers in Game seven of the Finals
one ten to one oh seven nineteen. I would love
(33:40):
for the nineteen sixty two NBA season to get its
own thirty for thirty. It has some of the craziest
stat lines you will ever see in the The nineteen
sixty two season is bananas the just for little context
because of the speed of the game, so to speak.
Here were the stat lines of the top five final
(34:06):
not finals, but MVPs. Number five Jerry West he averaged
thirty one to eight and five. Number four Elgin Baylor
he averaged thirty eight nineteen and five. However, he didn't
play enough games because he was only able to play
like on weekends because he was in the military. Number
three Oscars triple double thirty one, thirteen and eleven. Number
(34:30):
two Wilts fifty point per game, forty nine minute per
game season and the guy who won MVP, Bill Russell
at nineteen points twenty four rebounds. That was the season.
Now to the nineteen sixty two NBA Finals, which was
the first ever Celtics over Lakers. It goes overtime. It's
one ten, one oh seven. In that series, Jerry West
(34:52):
averaged thirty one and five, Elgin Baylor averaged forty one
to eight. They're up three to two in In Game six,
up three to two, Elgin Baylors scored sixty one points
and they lost. In Game seven a Celtics a Lakers
role player Frank Selby missed kind of a bunny to
(35:13):
win in regulation, the Celtics winning overtime despite West having
thirty five and Elgin having forty one. Bill Russell had
a nice tidy thirty point forty rebound game. That was
the Celtics fifth title and their fourth straight. Nineteen sixty six,
the Celtics, in a Game seven beat the Lakers ninety
(35:36):
five ninety three. The Lakers are down sixteen entering the fourth,
they claw back, come just short. Poor Jerry West had
thirty six and ten. Russell had twenty five and thirty two.
That was the Celtics record that will never be broken,
eighth consecutive championship and ninth overall, and then one last
(35:58):
time for posterity sake. Nineteen sixty nine, the Celtics beat
the Lakers NA Game seven, one O eight, one oh six.
It is the final game of Bill Russell's career. It
is an insane game, furious fourth quarter comeback that comes
up short. For this series, Bill Russell held Wilt Chamberlain
(36:20):
to eleven points per game. It was an all time
upset because the Celtics were the four seed that year
and that Lakers seam was unbelievable. The Lakers owner Jack
Can't Cook had put balloons in the rafters to drop
when they won the championship. It's the fur that which
really pissed off Jerry West and made Bill Russell even angrier.
Wilt gets dinged up, goes to the bench. They they
(36:44):
stage a bit of a comeback without him. He's then
like I'm ready to go back in. The coaches like, nope,
sit your ass down. Will don Nelson for the Celtics
hits Halliburton shot the one against the Knicks backrim up
super high in the air, down through the The Celtics
(37:06):
win by two. It's the first road team to win
a game seven. Okay, now we're done with the fifties
and sixties. One two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine.
So there have only been ten Game sevens of the
Finals that have been played. This will be the eleventh
since the Celtics dynasty. We'll do the seventies ones quickly
(37:28):
because this is the period of the NBA. I know
the lease about is the two leagues, ABA, all of it,
But nineteen seventy everybody knows about this game. The Knicks
beat the Lakers. The Lakers lost a lot of these
Game sevens one thirteen to ninety nine. That is known
as the Willis Reed game because Willis reided like a
torn squad limps onto the quarter after missing game six
(37:49):
hits the first two baskets of the game. What people
don't realize is those are the only two baskets of
the game he made. So how they win well? Walt
Clyde Fraser in a Game seven of the NBA Finals
had thirty six points, seven rebounds, nineteen assists. Nineteen seventy
four NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks in
(38:10):
kareem one, two eighty seven kareem for the series thirty three, twelve,
five and two and forty nine minutes per game. Do
the math on that? Pretty unbelievable. It's not enough. The
Celtics become the second road team ever to win a
Game seven. Nineteen seventy eight, Bullet speat the SuperSonics probably
(38:32):
the worst Finals MVP decision ever. They gave it to
wes unseld To averaged nine points eleven rebounds. The story
of that is Dennis Johnson, who wasn't the best player
on the Sonics. What was important when over fourteen in
over fourteen in Game seven. But the Sonics got revenged
the next year and won the championship, and they also
became the third road team ever to win a Game
(38:56):
seven of the Finals. And now we get to one.
You guys probably know about nineteen eighty four. The Boston
Celtics beat the Lakers one eleven, one oh two in
Game seven of the finals. Magic had seven turnovers in
that game. They had already started calling him tragic Johnson,
even though he was a two time champion leading up
to it, for turnovers earlier, Larry Bird was outstanding. It
(39:21):
was the first Magic Bird Finals and it was the
eighth time the Celtics and the Lakers had met in
the finals, and the Celtics up to that point where
eight O and that kind of cemented bird for a
lot of people over Magic, over Kareem as the best
player in the league. Nineteen eighty eight Lakers Pistons. Lakers
(39:41):
beat the Pistons one eight, one oh five. That is
on the heels of one of the most famous games
in NBA history, Game six of those Finals, with the
Pistons having a chance to close it out and win
the championship and deny the Lakers a back to back,
Isaiah badly springs his ankle, scores twenty five in the
(40:03):
third quarter despite that sprained ankle, and then with ten
seconds left down one, Kareem gets the ball foul called
on Lambier on the skyhook, maybe the most controversial foul
in NBA history. Kareem makes both. They win Game six
one oh three, one oh two, and then Game seven.
(40:25):
Because of that sprained ankle, Isaiah is limited, and that's
the big game, James game. James Worthy, who up to
that point in his career had never had a triple
double in Game seven of the Finals, thirty six points,
sixteen rebounds, ten assists, The Lakers win Magic's fifth title,
kareem sixth title, and that's the end. Of the Lakers
(40:49):
winning titles until Shack and Kobe get there. Nineteen ninety four,
Rockets beat the Knicks ninety to eighty four. The iconic
moment of that series is Game six, the Akeem block
on Starks down two, where the Knicks starts shooting a three.
A Keem gets his fingertips on it. In Game seven,
a Keem in a rematch akeem Ewing nineteen eighty four
(41:13):
NCAA championship that Georgetown won. A Keem outscores Youwing in
every single game, stifles him, holds Youing to seventeen. The
Rockets get their first of two championships. Two thousand and
five Spurs Pistons Spurs beat the Pistons eighty one seventy four.
That series is probably most known for Game five, down two,
(41:37):
Spurs ball, Pistons leave Robert or open, he hits a three.
They go up three to two. Then in Game seven,
Duncan leads a furious third quarter comeback. The Pistons are
denied back to back championships. Duncan gets his third ring.
Twenty ten Celtics Lakers and Uggs Awesome game. Lakers beat
(42:02):
the Celtics eighty three to seventy nine. The Lakers were
down three to two in the series, blowout the Celtics
in Game six. In Game seven, one of the oddest
games ever, the Lakers have fifty three points through three quarters,
score thirty in the fourth. Think about that, fifty three
through three quarters, score four thirty in the fourth. They're
(42:24):
trying to you know, this is the Celtics at one
and o eight with their Big three. The Lakers won
and oh nine once they got poo. Now these two
teams are playing. Kobe in that game seven goes six
for twenty four but is huge on the glass. Ron
Our test up three less than a minute left, takes
(42:45):
an ill advised three, but he makes it. Despite that,
it's still a two point game. With ten seconds left,
Sashabuyachic gets Foult goes the line calmly. It's both free throws.
Kobe gets ring number five. The Celtics Big three never
come actually close again, and then the two lebron Ones
(43:06):
twenty thirteen heat beat the Spurs ninety five to eighty eight.
That's the game. After the ray Allen game, Lebron has
thirty seven and twelve, including five threes. After the spursman
Daringham to shoot threes all series. Chris Bosh and Ray
Allen in that game combined for zero points. Zero points
from Bosh and ray Allen so out of the heat
(43:30):
win out and Lebron's thirty seven and twelve Shane Battier
off the bench hit six threes. Kind of the iconic
image of that game. Down two, Tim Duncan has a
little baby hook and then a tip in after he
missus misses it misses both slams his fist on center
(43:52):
court after the heat call timeout. After the heat call timeout,
Lebron hits a jumper over Kawhi from nineteen feet to
go up and win the championship. And then twenty sixteen,
the fourth and last time a road team has won
a Game seven. You have arguably the most iconic shot
in NBA history by Kyrie Irving, inarguably the most iconic
(44:16):
defensive play in NBA history by Lebron James the bloc
on Iguidala. Lebron goes twenty seven to eleven and eleven
as the Cavs complete a three to one comeback to
deny the seventy three win Warriors the greatest season in
NBA history. Those are the nineteen we have if you
(44:36):
just look through them, George mike In becoming the greatest
player in the league through Game sevens of the Finals,
Bill Russell becoming the greatest winner in sports history through
game sevens, and Jerry West becoming the biggest tough luck
loser in sports history. Through game sevens. We have the
(45:04):
iconic Willis Reid game that was actually the Walt Fraser game.
We have maybe one of the reasons Kareem left Milwaukee.
Does he leave as quickly or as readily if they
had won that championship. We have magic versus Bird. We
(45:25):
have magic versus Isaiah Ewing versus a team the Pistons
going for a back to back while the Spurs trying
to create their own version of a dynasty. Kobe and
Powell against the Big Three in Boston, Lebron's heat going
(45:49):
for validation of all coming together by winning back to
back against that Spurs team, and the great has come
back in NBA history in twenty sixteen. That's what Game
seven of the NBA Finals has meant historically. What will
(46:10):
the twentieth one mean This Sunday night, We'll all find
out together and we'll talk after what's right
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Right Game six NBA
Finals reaction show, and this is not the show I
expected to be doing. As Bet of the Year goes
down in Flames. I have been just wildly wrong, and
at this point I have to admit it's not just
been I have been saying. It hasn't been disrespect to
(00:23):
the Pacers, and it certainly hasn't been intentional disrespect to
the Pacers, it has been massive respect to the Thunder.
As to why I thought this series would be done
in probably five at most six, why I thought yesterday,
even though the Pacers were at home, even though we
(00:44):
have seen the Thunder in these playoffs kind of play
around with one of these Game sixes, I thought that
this was going to be a Thunder route, and I
laid out a very specific way I thought the Pacers
would have to win, which is, you know, you're not
gonna be able to slow down the Thunders offense, so
you're just gonna have that out score them. Miles Turner's
(01:06):
gonna have to have a huge game, and basically everything
was wrong. Miles Turner went one for nine. You did
absolutely stifle the Thunder offense. You made the Thunder. Look young,
You made Jet look like he was not ready for
the moment. Jalen Williams J. Dubb has the worst plus
(01:28):
minus in Finals history, a nice ripe minus forty for
the game. The league MVP Shay, who scored twenty plus
in like eighty something consecutive games, barely gets over that
threshold with just twenty one, and the Pacers in despite
(01:51):
no one breaking twenty until the waning moments of garbage
time and Obi Top and Jumper put him at twenty.
The Pacers basically wire to wire the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That game was ten to two Oklahoma City and then
(02:15):
the rest of the because what was the halftime score.
Halftime score was sixty four to forty two, so the
rest after the ten to to start, Indiana beat them
in the first half sixty two to thirty two. And
now we have the twentieth Game seven in NBA Finals history,
(02:37):
just the first game seven since the twenty sixteen Cabs
against the Warriors, and we are one game away from
what is, in my opinion, without a doubt, the greatest
upset in NBA history, and it would be in the
you know, per the bookmakers tied with the Pistons beating
(03:02):
the Lakers in four. But that series by the Lakers
were all of a sudden. They were an old team
that was dealing with injuries by that series, and now
they trounced the Lakers. But this, to me is more shocking.
A Thunder team that was absolutely rolling at every step
(03:25):
of the season, that took back control of the series
in Game four, I thought put their foot on the
Pacers throat in Game five. To just get annihilated like that,
and to now be on the brink of what would
(03:50):
be an all time missed opportunity and a collapse for
the Ages. I understand that we have. There's been plenty
of teams that have been up three to two in
the finals and lost. I get that now. There have
only been four teams to lose a Game seven of
(04:10):
the Finals at home. They would be the fifth. But
the one three to one comeback we've seen in the Finals,
it was part collapsed by Golden State and part the
greatest player of all time just got to his greatest
peak of all time over a week of basketball. That's
(04:32):
not what this is. It's not that holy shit, Pascal
Siakam or Tyrese Haliburton are just activating a new level.
It is the Pacers as a whole are last night
(04:52):
where the hungrier team the obviously the more desperate team,
but the more put together team. Now, what I will
say is, thus far this series and maybe this is
something the Thunder can lean on, thus far, this series
has gone beat four beat like then the Thunder Nuggets
(05:18):
series did. Game one, Thunder Nuggets Thunder loose on a
buzzer beater. Game one Thunder Pacers Thunder loose on a
buzzer beater. Game two Thundernuggets, Thunder blow out the Nuggets
by that one by forty. Game two of the Finals,
Thunder blow out the Pacers. Game three, the Thunder loose
(05:44):
a heartbreaker in overtime in Denver. Game three, the Thunder
loose tough game in Indiana. Game four, it looks like,
oh my god, or the Thunder gonna go down three one,
and they kind of claw their way back and win
the game by five. Game four of this series, Oh
(06:07):
my God, or the Thunder gonna go down three to one,
they claw their way back and win by seven. Game
five of that series, the Thunder win by seven. In
round two. Game five of this series, the Thunder win
by eleven. And then Game six, the Thunder got blown
out in Denver and not to this degree. And Game
(06:29):
six of this series the Thunder got blown out. So
they have this exact pacing of a series. And they
then came out and beat the Nuggets by thirty two
points to move on. And you could say, and in
(06:50):
that series is one of the Nuggets key players was
dealing with an injury and Aaron Gordon and in this series,
Tyrese Haliburn's dealing with an injury. He sure didn't look
hurt last night, as Hugh. That was the best beginning
of a game halliburtons had all series. He didn't end
up having to play huge minutes. And now he's got
(07:12):
two more days, and all of a sudden, the Thunder
have two days to think about the fact that, oh
my god, whether they were allowing their minds to drift
there or not, dynasty was thrown around. Obviously, Shay's place
(07:34):
in basketball history was being thrown around. We threw around,
Jalen Williams, Jadub being comped to Scottie Pippen, all of it.
And now you go into a Game seven where who
on the Thunder is feeling great about how they're playing,
(08:00):
and the Chet thing is to me a massive red flag.
Now part of that, I will admit might be confirmation
biased for me because I have always been probably more
Chet skeptical than most. But Chet was brutal last night.
(08:22):
Four points, two of nine from the field, no blocks,
no impact on the game. Hartenstein wasn't brutal, but no
impact on the game. So you're two bigs. Not played
off the court necessarily, but just not it. No thrust,
(08:47):
and that the way the Pacers like there was there
was a the start of the second half was really
fascinating to me. And I apologie guys for bouncing around.
It's what I'm gonna do. It's kind of how I
do it. If Demonsy's not here, I don't have like
a regular train of thought. Also, by the way we
(09:09):
are going to do at the end of this podcast,
we'll do it as quickly as we can, but I
think it'll be a good time capsule. And I also
think it's just a good way to pay tribute to
the fact that there's only been twenty of these in
(09:31):
the history of the league. Game seven of the Finals,
where we're gonna bang bang bang, go through all twenty,
it'll be less than a minute on each. It might
be ten seconds on some of them, but fifteen of
the twenty are really historic touchstone moments in league history,
(09:53):
and almost all of the contemporary ones have either and
i ic moment or are the defining moment of an
iconic player's career, and we're getting one for the first
time in nearly a decade. But to get back to
what I was saying, down twenty two to start the
second half, here are well up twenty two, I should say,
(10:19):
here are the Pacers possessions. Siaka miss jumper, turner, miss jumper,
turner miss three, Haliburton miss three, uh, Siakam missed layup,
Nie Smith, miss jumper, nim Hard miss jumper, turnover Nie Smith.
Those opening four minutes, the Pacers got nothing at the
(10:46):
rim except for Siakam, and he missed turned the ball over,
got no steals, drew no fouls, or drew one foul,
but was off the ball. That was if the Thunder
were if they had come into the game over confident,
(11:07):
and then they have halftime to reset with the goal
being guys. We came back from basically ten down in
the fourth quarter game five or Game four, pardon me,
let's just get twenty two to sixteen by the under
seven time out and reframe the game that was. Those
(11:34):
were their opportunities, but unfortunately for them, their offensive possessions
were some of the ugliest basketball the Thunder have played
all year. A late shot clock lou Dort three, an
(11:54):
early shot clock lou Dort three, a turnover by Shay
so I guess there was one turnover, A Jalen Williams
Jada missed three, Crusoe blocked at the rim, a bad
miss by check from three, another lou Dort missed three,
(12:18):
and then Halliburton hits the layup in Oklahoma City calls
time out. No great possessions, no shots from the league MVP.
The team was shook, and I don't know how this
is going to land with the Pacers. I'm sorry with
(12:39):
the Thunder for Game seven. I still believe the Thunder
are going to win. I still believe the Thunder are
the right side. But hand up here, I have just
been dead ass wrong on a lot these playoffs, and
I have been wildly wrong this uh, these NBA Finals,
(13:04):
and it is just such a unique game where who
on the Pacers played great, played a great game. I don't.
I guess you could say Obi Toppin hit a bunch
of big threes, scored twenty. I I thought Siakam was
(13:28):
gonna have to score thirty. He scored sixteen. Now I
understand all of this is warped a bit by the
fact that in the fourth quarter, you know, I can
pull it up real quick in the fourth quarter, the
Thunder or the Pacers are the Thunder didn't play any
of their starters at all in the fourth quarter, and
(13:49):
the Pacers barely played their guys any in the fourth quarter.
So this was a three quarter game. But still offensively,
nozh one on the Thunder on the Pacers had a
monster game defensively, they all did, and it was all
(14:13):
of the Thunder or the Pacers. I keep getting the wrong.
I apologize Pacers offensive X factors. Well, their two biggest
offensive X factors, Mattherin and Turner combined to go two
for fifteen over eight from three. They won. Anyway, That's
what is so terrifying for Oklahoma City. Weird shit happens
(14:35):
in game sevens and there's never been a player that's
walked into a game seven more do for a big
night than Miles Turner. It just hasn't like. And I'm
gonna keep banging the Miles Turner drum because I believe
in his talent, I believe in his ability, and he
(14:56):
has been impactful for them defensively and as a rim
protector the last few games. They're only like consistent other
than Siakam offensive forces McConnell who McConnell has got his
game straight out of the Sean Livingston playbook of I'm
going to somehow awkwardly get my way to a ten
(15:21):
twelve fourteen foot jumper. It's going to be they have
very different releases, but I'm going to have I'm the
only player in the league that shoots the way I shoot,
and it's going to feel automatic. And McConnell with another
nice six for twelve, twelve points, nine rebounds, six assists
(15:43):
for Steels. What a damn game by him. And so
that's how we got here. And I know it sounds
like from everything I'm saying, like, so I'm going for
the Pacers. I picked the thunder I found myself last night.
I think it's an unbelievable story if the Pacers win
(16:03):
this championship an unprecedented, unbelievable story. Now, how can the
thunder hold them off? We'll do that in a moment,
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Speaker 1 (18:01):
All right for the Thunder again, this is going to
sound surface level, but it's reality. This has to be
Game seven has to be a game where the discussion
(18:23):
on TV Monday morning and afternoon. For the Thunder, the
discussion is did SGA just give himself a legitimate claim
to best player a lot. That's got to be it.
(18:46):
And by the way, if you go back, and we're
going to do this in longer form in a few minutes,
but if we go back through the game seven's the
(19:07):
guy who the last. My god, it's close to ten
when we've walked off the court after that Game seven.
For a lot of people, the best player alives been
walking off with the championship. Lebron sixteen, Lebron thirteen, Kobe
(19:34):
twenty ten. It was a debate, but he just won
back to back championships. I wasn't good in that Game seven,
but a lot of people obviously believe Kobe was best
player alive than five Duncan ninety four, a Team eighty eight,
Magic eighty four Bird like those Game sevens with and
(20:06):
I'm not picking on Kobe, but he was just an
outlier where he was six of twenty four those game sevens.
The through line has been a guy who either had
a stranglehold on best player alive or a guy who
was arguably best player alive he took it. There have
(20:31):
been a few great ones where in twenty sixteen and
in I guess you could argue ninety four and certainly
in eighty four where the two guys who were arguing
best player alive bird Magic a keeam Ewing Ewing really
(20:53):
wasn't quite that class. But if he had won, maybe
we'd been saying it. And then obviously Lebron Curry, it's
like it's levitating above the arena, the figurative title belt.
Can you go grab it? Now, that's not the case
here because there's no one on the Pacers that if
they win, we're like, Bam, that guy's the best player
in the league. But that's what that's what's in front
(21:21):
of Shad Now. He can't do it on his own,
and all year long, as great as he's been, he's
never had to do it on his own. But that
Thunder defense needs to wake back up and those Thunder
role players. I think j will be good. Let me
(21:41):
say that on the front end. The forty piece he
dropped in Game five. He's going to be back at home.
He seems so even keeled. I think he'll be good.
I think Shay'll be good. I don't know who else
is going to be good. And I am interested because
(22:06):
this I think does tilt things in the Thunder's favor.
Refs never want a Game seven to be choppy and
a bunch of fouls, And I thought early in this game,
(22:28):
I thought it was a very fair whistle and it
wasn't like a crazy amount of free throws in either direction.
But I thought they made it pretty clear early in
this game that they're gonna call it maybe a little
tighter than the Thunder would like. And I think it
impacted Dort and Crusoe's ability defensively, and that obviously huge
(22:50):
advantage because of that to Indiana. But if the Thunder
don't win this championship, I just don't it feels like
(23:16):
such a crushing, crushing blow and all reference twenty sixteen. Again, yes,
they had won seventy three games and they were up
three to one, but they had a title in their
back pocket. And so when we think about the shocking
(23:44):
finals defeats, the most and the most crushing Finals defeats,
nineteen sixty nine is the answer to that and more
on that game. Oddly in a bit, but Celtics over
(24:07):
Lakers in Russell's final game ever because it was like,
I guess, you know, we're never We're never going to
have a better team. We're never going to be better positioned,
We're never going to be a bigger favorite, and we
still can't get over the hump. Now, that wouldn't be
this because the Lakers lost the Celtics a half dozen
(24:29):
times at that point or close to it. But this,
this can be a just a seismic event, or it
can be. Listen, we got a little ahead of ourselves
in Game six. We were a little you know, thinking
(24:53):
about the party and the celebration, and the Pacers said,
you know, we're not laying down, and we knew we
had that Game seven at home in our back pocket,
but man, you better thing win. I this would be
(25:17):
like another I'll cross sport.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
One of the biggest, the biggest upsets in recent Super
Bowl history, the Giants and seven beating the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
It's unfathomable. But for the most important parties with the
Patriots other than Randy Moss, they had championships already, or
when the Patriots beat the Rams in one, the Rams
had won the championship two years prior. I'm I'm just
(25:58):
kind of struggling to find and I'm sure it exists,
but like this level of upset, the thunder were minus
two thousand to win the title yesterday. They were minus
seven hundred at the start of the series, and they
(26:21):
were hell they were minus seven hundred after Game four.
It just I don't know what it does to an
organization if they don't win this. Meanwhile, if there has
ever been a team that walks into a Game seven
(26:44):
as crazy as this sounds, with no pressure, it's the Pacers.
I don't know that that actually exists, but if it does,
this is it. And so I I am anxious for
(27:07):
the thunder and I don't even care, like I have
no connection or affinity for I can't wait to see
how Shaye handles it and to set that up. And
this will be this will We're gonna the thing we're
(27:29):
gonna do next we will clip as its own YouTube video.
It will not do well on YouTube, however, for real
diehard NBA fans, I hope for years it's kind of
a something people stumble upon where they are searching for
(27:54):
the history of game sevens in the NBA Finals, and
then they watch the ten minutes or so we're about
to do, because we'll go through all of them, and
like I said, the vast majority have something iconic about them.
But before we do that, a message from our friends
(28:14):
at boost Mobile. And this is a message that applies
to ninety nine percent of you listening right now, because
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five G speeds not available in all areas. Okay, so
(29:19):
I let me see. Is this going to block the camera?
It's not. I'll be looking down a bit here. But
so I made kind of the I just went through
this morning, the nineteen prior Game seven's in NBA history,
(29:39):
and what's the what's better if I'm looking over here
looking down, I'll look down because I obviously I don't
have these set to memory with all the details. But
here is to set the table for the twentieth Game
seven in NBA Finals history. How we got here, so
(30:02):
to speak. We will spend obviously less time on the
very early ones, but if you want, if you're a
sports history nerd like me, this should be fun. I'll
try to go through the uninteresting ones as quickly as possible.
First one ever nineteen fifty one, Rochester Royals beat the
(30:23):
Knicks seventy nine to seventy five. Give you a context
for how different the league was back then. Two different
guys named Arnie started this basketball game, and the first
ever kind of like hard luck star in the NBA,
Max Zislovsky pardon me for the Knicks, was involved in
that game. Nineteen fifty two, the Minneapolis Lakers beat the
(30:47):
New York Knicks. That was, if it wasn't already official
before the official arrival of the NBA's first true superstar,
George Mikeen Miken averaged twenty two to eighteen for the series,
and in that game seven had twenty two points in
nineteen rebounds. Those same Minneapolis Lakers in nineteen fifty four
(31:07):
beat the Syracuse Nationals eighty seven eighty. That's another Micing championship,
his fifth ring and the league's first three peat and
then one last one. That is really kind of the
BC era of NBA basketball. The nineteen fifty five Syracuse
Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons ninety two to ninety one.
(31:29):
We don't really have to get into it, but NBA
history nerds know this. This might be fun for people
who aren't. That game was probably rigged, and I don't
mean rigged by the refs, I mean again allegedly possibly.
I don't know who knows, it seems sure seems like
the newspaper writers and the people who covered that game
(31:52):
thought Fort Wayne through the game, they were on the take.
And that was at a time when that stuff kind
of happened as old CCNY thing. But so again, those
four uh, you've got the first ever Game seven with
Rochester beating New York. You then have kind of the
mic and era. You then have Dolph Jays and the
(32:12):
Syracuse Nationals beating the Fort Wayne Pistons in a game
that could not be played in Fort Wayne's arena because
Fort Wayne had rnted out the arena and the game
might have been thrown. Okay, now, not to modern era, obviously,
but all of the other The next handful of Game
seven's involve one main character, Bill Russell and his Boston Celtics.
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Nineteen fifty seven, the Celtics beat the Saint Louis Hawks
one twenty five, one twenty three in double overtime, Russell's
rookie year. It's Russell versus Robert E. Lee Pettitt Junior,
which is also known as Bullet Bob Bettett. It's an
all time series, it's an all time game, and it
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is the beginning of the Celtics dynasty. A Games seven,
double overtime two point victory over the guy A lot
of people thought it was the best player in the
league in Bob Pettitt. That's nineteen fifty seven. Nineteen sixty,
the Celtics beat the Saint Louis Hawks, same Hawk, same
Bob Pettitt won twenty two to one oh three. Bill
Russell with a nice, smooth twenty two point thirty five
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rebound performance for the Celtics. That was their third title
and second in a row. Two years later, and this
is going to be a theme, the Boston Celtics beat
the Los Angeles Lakers in Game seven of the Finals
one ten to one oh seven nineteen. I would love
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for the nineteen sixty two NBA season to get its
own thirty for thirty. It has some of the craziest
stat lines you will ever see in the The nineteen
sixty two season is bananas the just for little context
because of the speed of the game, so to speak.
Here were the stat lines of the top five final
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not finals, but MVPs. Number five Jerry West he averaged
thirty one to eight and five. Number four Elgin Baylor
he averaged thirty eight nineteen and five. However, he didn't
play enough games because he was only able to play
like on weekends because he was in the military. Number
three Oscars triple double thirty one, thirteen and eleven. Number
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two Wilts fifty point per game, forty nine minute per
game season and the guy who won MVP, Bill Russell
at nineteen points twenty four rebounds. That was the season.
Now to the nineteen sixty two NBA Finals, which was
the first ever Celtics over Lakers. It goes overtime. It's
one ten, one oh seven. In that series, Jerry West
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averaged thirty one and five, Elgin Baylor averaged forty one
to eight. They're up three to two in In Game six,
up three to two, Elgin Baylors scored sixty one points
and they lost. In Game seven a Celtics a Lakers
role player Frank Selby missed kind of a bunny to
(35:13):
win in regulation, the Celtics winning overtime despite West having
thirty five and Elgin having forty one. Bill Russell had
a nice tidy thirty point forty rebound game. That was
the Celtics fifth title and their fourth straight. Nineteen sixty six,
the Celtics, in a Game seven beat the Lakers ninety
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five ninety three. The Lakers are down sixteen entering the fourth,
they claw back, come just short. Poor Jerry West had
thirty six and ten. Russell had twenty five and thirty two.
That was the Celtics record that will never be broken,
eighth consecutive championship and ninth overall, and then one last
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time for posterity sake. Nineteen sixty nine, the Celtics beat
the Lakers NA Game seven, one O eight, one oh six.
It is the final game of Bill Russell's career. It
is an insane game, furious fourth quarter comeback that comes
up short. For this series, Bill Russell held Wilt Chamberlain
(36:20):
to eleven points per game. It was an all time
upset because the Celtics were the four seed that year
and that Lakers seam was unbelievable. The Lakers owner Jack
Can't Cook had put balloons in the rafters to drop
when they won the championship. It's the fur that which
really pissed off Jerry West and made Bill Russell even angrier.
Wilt gets dinged up, goes to the bench. They they
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stage a bit of a comeback without him. He's then
like I'm ready to go back in. The coaches like, nope,
sit your ass down. Will don Nelson for the Celtics
hits Halliburton shot the one against the Knicks backrim up
super high in the air, down through the The Celtics
(37:06):
win by two. It's the first road team to win
a game seven. Okay, now we're done with the fifties
and sixties. One two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine.
So there have only been ten Game sevens of the
Finals that have been played. This will be the eleventh
since the Celtics dynasty. We'll do the seventies ones quickly
(37:28):
because this is the period of the NBA. I know
the lease about is the two leagues, ABA, all of it,
But nineteen seventy everybody knows about this game. The Knicks
beat the Lakers. The Lakers lost a lot of these
Game sevens one thirteen to ninety nine. That is known
as the Willis Reed game because Willis reided like a
torn squad limps onto the quarter after missing game six
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hits the first two baskets of the game. What people
don't realize is those are the only two baskets of
the game he made. So how they win well? Walt
Clyde Fraser in a Game seven of the NBA Finals
had thirty six points, seven rebounds, nineteen assists. Nineteen seventy
four NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks in
(38:10):
kareem one, two eighty seven kareem for the series thirty three, twelve,
five and two and forty nine minutes per game. Do
the math on that? Pretty unbelievable. It's not enough. The
Celtics become the second road team ever to win a
Game seven. Nineteen seventy eight, Bullet speat the SuperSonics probably
(38:32):
the worst Finals MVP decision ever. They gave it to
wes unseld To averaged nine points eleven rebounds. The story
of that is Dennis Johnson, who wasn't the best player
on the Sonics. What was important when over fourteen in
over fourteen in Game seven. But the Sonics got revenged
the next year and won the championship, and they also
became the third road team ever to win a Game
(38:56):
seven of the Finals. And now we get to one.
You guys probably know about nineteen eighty four. The Boston
Celtics beat the Lakers one eleven, one oh two in
Game seven of the finals. Magic had seven turnovers in
that game. They had already started calling him tragic Johnson,
even though he was a two time champion leading up
to it, for turnovers earlier, Larry Bird was outstanding. It
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was the first Magic Bird Finals and it was the
eighth time the Celtics and the Lakers had met in
the finals, and the Celtics up to that point where
eight O and that kind of cemented bird for a
lot of people over Magic, over Kareem as the best
player in the league. Nineteen eighty eight Lakers Pistons. Lakers
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beat the Pistons one eight, one oh five. That is
on the heels of one of the most famous games
in NBA history, Game six of those Finals, with the
Pistons having a chance to close it out and win
the championship and deny the Lakers a back to back,
Isaiah badly springs his ankle, scores twenty five in the
(40:03):
third quarter despite that sprained ankle, and then with ten
seconds left down one, Kareem gets the ball foul called
on Lambier on the skyhook, maybe the most controversial foul
in NBA history. Kareem makes both. They win Game six
one oh three, one oh two, and then Game seven.
(40:25):
Because of that sprained ankle, Isaiah is limited, and that's
the big game, James game. James Worthy, who up to
that point in his career had never had a triple
double in Game seven of the Finals, thirty six points,
sixteen rebounds, ten assists, The Lakers win Magic's fifth title,
kareem sixth title, and that's the end. Of the Lakers
(40:49):
winning titles until Shack and Kobe get there. Nineteen ninety four,
Rockets beat the Knicks ninety to eighty four. The iconic
moment of that series is Game six, the Akeem block
on Starks down two, where the Knicks starts shooting a three.
A Keem gets his fingertips on it. In Game seven,
a Keem in a rematch akeem Ewing nineteen eighty four
(41:13):
NCAA championship that Georgetown won. A Keem outscores Youwing in
every single game, stifles him, holds Youing to seventeen. The
Rockets get their first of two championships. Two thousand and
five Spurs Pistons Spurs beat the Pistons eighty one seventy four.
That series is probably most known for Game five, down two,
(41:37):
Spurs ball, Pistons leave Robert or open, he hits a three.
They go up three to two. Then in Game seven,
Duncan leads a furious third quarter comeback. The Pistons are
denied back to back championships. Duncan gets his third ring.
Twenty ten Celtics Lakers and Uggs Awesome game. Lakers beat
(42:02):
the Celtics eighty three to seventy nine. The Lakers were
down three to two in the series, blowout the Celtics
in Game six. In Game seven, one of the oddest
games ever, the Lakers have fifty three points through three quarters,
score thirty in the fourth. Think about that, fifty three
through three quarters, score four thirty in the fourth. They're
(42:24):
trying to you know, this is the Celtics at one
and o eight with their Big three. The Lakers won
and oh nine once they got poo. Now these two
teams are playing. Kobe in that game seven goes six
for twenty four but is huge on the glass. Ron
Our test up three less than a minute left, takes
(42:45):
an ill advised three, but he makes it. Despite that,
it's still a two point game. With ten seconds left,
Sashabuyachic gets Foult goes the line calmly. It's both free throws.
Kobe gets ring number five. The Celtics Big three never
come actually close again, and then the two lebron Ones
(43:06):
twenty thirteen heat beat the Spurs ninety five to eighty eight.
That's the game. After the ray Allen game, Lebron has
thirty seven and twelve, including five threes. After the spursman
Daringham to shoot threes all series. Chris Bosh and Ray
Allen in that game combined for zero points. Zero points
from Bosh and ray Allen so out of the heat
(43:30):
win out and Lebron's thirty seven and twelve Shane Battier
off the bench hit six threes. Kind of the iconic
image of that game. Down two, Tim Duncan has a
little baby hook and then a tip in after he
missus misses it misses both slams his fist on center
(43:52):
court after the heat call timeout. After the heat call timeout,
Lebron hits a jumper over Kawhi from nineteen feet to
go up and win the championship. And then twenty sixteen,
the fourth and last time a road team has won
a Game seven. You have arguably the most iconic shot
in NBA history by Kyrie Irving, inarguably the most iconic
(44:16):
defensive play in NBA history by Lebron James the bloc
on Iguidala. Lebron goes twenty seven to eleven and eleven
as the Cavs complete a three to one comeback to
deny the seventy three win Warriors the greatest season in
NBA history. Those are the nineteen we have if you
(44:36):
just look through them, George mike In becoming the greatest
player in the league through Game sevens of the Finals,
Bill Russell becoming the greatest winner in sports history through
game sevens, and Jerry West becoming the biggest tough luck
loser in sports history. Through game sevens. We have the
(45:04):
iconic Willis Reid game that was actually the Walt Fraser game.
We have maybe one of the reasons Kareem left Milwaukee.
Does he leave as quickly or as readily if they
had won that championship. We have magic versus Bird. We
(45:25):
have magic versus Isaiah Ewing versus a team the Pistons
going for a back to back while the Spurs trying
to create their own version of a dynasty. Kobe and
Powell against the Big Three in Boston, Lebron's heat going
(45:49):
for validation of all coming together by winning back to
back against that Spurs team, and the great has come
back in NBA history in twenty sixteen. That's what Game
seven of the NBA Finals has meant historically. What will
(46:10):
the twentieth one mean This Sunday night, We'll all find
out together and we'll talk after what's right
Host
Nick Wright
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