Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, with a huge army of fans in every state, and it seems to be something that will never change. The rules are simple to understand, and thanks to the efficiency and dynamism of the game and the large number of points, it is impossible to get bored when watching it.
Each basketball game is interesting in its way, and fans simply enjoy watching them and admire their favorite teams and players. However, some matches are more interesting than others, and because of that, we tried to create a list of some of the most interesting basketball matches ever.
The “Flu Game”
We cannot talk about basketball and iconic moments in history without mentioning Michael Jordan, as regardless of what some might think and whether he is the GOA, he undoubtedly contributed a lot in shaping the NBA as we know it today. There isn’t a person who doesn’t know who Jordan is, and every basketball fan knows at least one interesting fact about him, and that is one of the reasons we picked this game against the Jazz.
Namely, after being in the 2-0 lead in the finals, the Bulls lost two games in a row and desperately needed the win the fifth game of the series. To make things even worse, Jordan cathed bad Flu, and even though there were rumors that he would miss this game, we all knew that he would play.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped him, far from it, as he scored 38 points and had one of the best individual performances in any NBA Finals game ever, as stated by many.
NBA Finals 2016 Cavaliers – Warriors
There is no better way to describe this entire series than being one of the best, if not the best, in NBA history. The game and this entire series have become historic for many reasons. The first thing is that there was a famous “seventh” game, and the second is that the Cavaliers were the first team that has achieved to win it all after being down 1-3 in the series.
No one has ever before done that, and we are yet to see whether it will happen again. Of course, we simply must mention “The King,” as his performance was one of his best throughout the series, and the scene when he finally lifts the trophy as a Cavalier was and always will be one of the highlight moments of his career.
It’s needless to say how big of a win this was and what it meant for this franchise, as this was their first-ever trophy after being in the NBA for 46 years. LeBrons performance in this last game of the season was outstanding, and the moment when he chased down Iguodala and blocked him was on tv screens for many weeks.
Of course, Irving also had a huge game that night, and that moment when he scored that three-pointer right in Curry’s face was one of the iconic and historic moments that will go down in the history of the league.
Fiba World Cup Finals 2002 – Yugoslavia -Argentina
There is no doubt that for such a small country, Yugoslavia has a lot of great sportsmen, and their basketball players proved it a lot of times. However, we will focus on the match against Argentina in Fiba World Cup Finals in 2002, when Yugoslavia beat Argentina 84-77 in overtime.
The game was uncertain until the very end, and the fact it went into overtime proves that. Although Dirk Nowitzki was chosen as the MVP of the tournament, the performance of Dejan Bodiroga and Predrag Stojakovic was flawless, and it brought a title for Yugoslavia.
NBA finals 2008 Celtics – Lakers
Every basketball enthusiast is well aware of what the term “franchise” means, and in 2008 we witnessed a new franchise emerging. Of course, Boston Celtics have a rich history in both Championships won and the number of All-star players that played here, but for more than two decades, this team was in a rebuilding process.
Namely, after Bird retired, Celtics have struggled, as most franchise teams do, once their best player is no longer there. The fan base is huge in Boston, and sports culture in general here is one of the best in the USA, but Celtics were always a team that most people living here identified with.
As for the game itself, even though not a deciding one, the fourth game played in the Staples Center was a turning point. It all started with two wins for the Celtics and one win for the Lakers, and when the fourth game started, everyone watching it believed that this would end up being an easy win for Kobe’s team, but the big trio stepped up and took the away W. Lakers had a big lead (24 points)m but even that wasn’t enough for Garnett, Allen, and Pierce trio.
In the second half, they went on a 23-3 run to even the score and closed the game with a 97-91 win. Everything got much easier from then as they were up by two wins in the series and needed just one more win to lift Larry O’Brien’s Championship Trophy.
It took them two more games to achieve this, as they won by 4-2 in this series. It was a huge step for this Celtics team, and this game has a huge role in achieving some of the best moments of this franchise. This series, in general, was one of the best we have witnessed so far, but this game particularly was great to watch.
You may want to check our article on fun facts about the NBA – one of the most popular sports leagues globally.
The Bottom line
Those were only some of the most interesting games we thought you would love to read about, but there are much more of them, and every person definitely has their own list based on their preferences, favorite team, or player.
However, there is no doubt that many new matches are expecting us in the future, and some of them will surely deserve to get on this list, and if you are a devoted fan who loves watching basketball, you surely have some predictions, so you can try to make money out of them on https://onlinebetting.net.nz/.