Game 7 of NBA Finals as good as it gets

Published 10:29 pm Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The two-week long ride known as The Finals crosses the finish line tonight, with San Antonio and Miami ready to settle what has been a dead heat through six games. 

While the two teams chase down the coveted basketball title, the NBA will make its latest argument for leading the race when it comes to sporting championships. 

Where you can bank on most championship events taking place around the same time annually in other sports, The Finals leave you guessing — from how many games it will go to what victory or defeat will mean to the legacies of the star players and their respective franchises.

Game 7 of The Finals in the NBA takes a backseat to few single-day, championship-level, major sporting events, from their rare occurrence to the buildup. Tonight’s conclusion marks just the seventh time in the past 30 years for The Finals to go the distance. And it pits one of the league’s few dynasties in the Spurs (with 14 consecutive 50-win seasons and five NBA Finals appearances and four titles since 1999) against the league’s reigning champion in the Heat, who are in The Finals a third straight year and led by four-time and current league MVP LeBron James. 

Arguably not the Daytona 500 compares to The Finals, nor the World Cup, World Series, Super Bowl, Final Four, WrestleMania, Stanley Cup, Wimbledon, The Masters, Kentucky Derby or pay-per-view boxing title matches for that matter.

The conclusion of eight-months plus of basketball, into one 48-minute night for all the marbles, rivals any with its dramatic conclusion, culminating in one final, prime time Thursday spectacle. Events like the Daytona 500, WrestleMania, Wimbledon, The Masters and Kentucky Derby bring together competitors who will likely face off several more times later in other races, bouts or majors. 

The Super Bowl and Final Four, along with championship boxing fights, match competitors in winner-take-all ramifications, often times the first meeting between the combatants as opposed to the chess match experienced in a seven-game NBA finals series.

The World Cup counts billions of fans for viewership. And the Stanley Cup and World Series also end the hockey and baseball seasons, respectively, with best-of-seven game series. But neither defines careers it appears as the NBA, where titles mean everything — such as San Antonio’s Tim Duncan’s pursuit of his fifth ring to move into a tie for first among active players along with Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Oklahoma City’s Derek Fisher; or James’ attempt to become the first player with multiple regular season Most Valuable Player awards to win back-to-back titles since Michael Jordan 15 years ago in 1998. 

So what’s so special about Game 7s in the NBA?  To get to a Game 7 means the teams were virtually even through six games. In the case of the Spurs and Heat, they took back-and-forth to another level, alternating wins in each of the six games.

In one corner the Spurs seem to hold the upper hand, seeing no team has won consecutive games in the series. History suggests the Heat have the edge, however, since home teams have a 14-3 record in Game 7s of The Finals, including wins in the previous five occurrences — the most recent in 2010 when the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 after returning home for the final two games down 3-2 like Miami.

The fact several picked the series to go seven makes for even better drama. Despite what history says, I will stick with my original pick: Spurs in 7.

In the meantime, buckle up and enjoy a ride not guaranteed to come every year.