Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

By Rafael Bandayrel

There is absolutely nothing like a Game 7 in the NBA Playoffs. They are the best two words in sports, according to the late great Bill Russell. The tension, the heavy legs, the absolute desperation where every single single dribble can alter history.

With the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs about to lace them up for their own legendary, winner-take-all showdown, the basketball world is collectively holding its breath. To get you hyped for the absolute chaos that's about to unfold, let’s rank the seven greatest, most dramatic Game 7s in modern NBA history.

7. 2015 Western Conference First Round

This wasn't a Conference Finals or a championship series, but it felt like one. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs and the Lob City Los Angeles Clippers went absolutely toe-to-toe in a first-round heavyweight fight. The lead changed hands an astonishing 31 times. Over the final five and a half minutes, neither team held a lead larger than a single three-point bucket.

The legendary moment belonged to Chris Paul. After straining his left hamstring in the opening quarter and missing significant time on the training table, Paul hobbled back out, willed his way to 27 points, and hit an improbable, off-balance driving bank shot right over the outstretched, 6-foot-11 arm of Tim Duncan with just one second left on the clock. Absolute cinema.

6. 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals

Everyone remembers this series as the ultimate, peak-era scoring duel between Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson and Toronto Raptor’ Vince Carter. They spent six games trading 50-point masterpieces, but when Game 7 rolled around, the rims shrunk, the whistles got swallowed, and it became an old-school defensive slugfest.

Neither superstar could buy a bucket. Iverson was wildly inefficient, and Carter couldn't find his rhythm, but it became a masterclass in how elite players find ways to win when their shot is completely broken. Philly forced just enough stops, scratched out a one-point victory, and advanced to the ECF in a game that proved defense—not highlight reels—wins championships.

5. 1995 Western Conference Semifinals

The Phoenix Suns looked completely determined to punch their ticket to the Next Round, carried by a legendary performance from Kevin Johnson. KJ was possessed, shredding the Rockets for 46 points and 10 assists in a spectacular display of point guard brilliance.

But the basketball gods had other plans. In the closing seconds, Houston Rockets role player Mario Elie found himself open in the corner. He launched a three-pointer that burned the net, turned directly to the Phoenix bench, and blew them a cold, stone-faced "Kiss of Death." The shot secured a thrilling one-point win for Houston and cemented Elie's place in playoff lore forever.

4. 1998 Eastern Conference Finals

Michael Jordan rarely saw a Game 7 during the Chicago Bulls' championship dynasty. He usually took care of business much earlier, but Reggie Miller and the gritty Indiana Pacers pushed the “Last Dance” Bulls to the absolute brink.

It was an incredibly ugly offensive night. Jordan struggled heavily with his shot—though he still managed a gritty 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists—and Scottie Pippen couldn't find the bottom of the net either. But Chicago clamped down on defense, holding the high-powered Pacers completely scoreless for the final two minutes of the game to secure their sixth Finals trip in eight years.

3. 2010 NBA Finals

If you love beautiful, fluid, high-scoring basketball… this may not be the game for you. It was a brutal, physically exhausting war of attrition between two storied rivals the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Fatigue and injuries took a massive toll. Kobe Bryant had an historically tough shooting night, going an unsightly 6-for-24 from the field.

Yet, Bryant found another way to impact the game, relentlessly attacking the glass for 15 massive rebounds to finish with 23 points. The Lakers shot a dreadful 32.5 percent as a team and missed 12 free throws, but they clawed back from a 13-point second-half deficit. In doing so, they handed the Celtics their first-ever Game 7 loss in the NBA Finals.

2. 2000 Western Conference Finals

The powerhouse Portland Trail Blazers had the Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant Lakers dead to rights, holding a massive 15-point lead in the fourth quarter in Los Angeles. The Staples Center crowd was stunned, and the dynamic duo's first title run under Phil Jackson looked entirely cooked.

Then, the collapse happened. The Lakers went on an historic run, punctuated by the iconic, stadium-shaking Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop that serves as the definitive image of that dynasty. Portland completely froze up, prompting Scottie Pippen to later admit, "We realize we sort of made cowards of ourselves in the fourth quarter."

1. 2016 NBA Finals

The absolute gold standard of Game 7s. After a testy, emotional series full of blowouts and suspensions, Game 7 delivered a dramatic, wire-to-wire masterpiece. LeBron James, playing in his sixth consecutive Finals, put the entire city of Cleveland on his back to complete an impossible 3-1 series comeback against Stephen Curry and the record-setting 73-win Golden State Warriors Warriors.

LeBron dropped a historic 27-11-11 triple-double, but the defining play of his career was "The Block"—tracking down Andre Iguodala on a fastbreak to pin a layup against the glass in the final minutes. Kyrie Irving followed with a cold-blooded three, securing the Cavs' first-ever NBA title and breaking a 52-year championship drought for the city of Cleveland.

Will Thunder vs. Spurs give us another legendary moment to add to this list? History says we're in for an absolute classic.