Basketball was in the developmental stage at that time, and you can even see in some old and yellowed videotapes that the players at that time were like fairies scattering funny shooting posture, so the average player's hitting rate of 35% can be considered a good level. At that time, the rules and regulations of the NBA league were not perfect, so the game was full of chance and randomness. Thus, in the decade of the 50's a **** appeared five times in the Finals 7 games, seven teams stood on the floor of the seventh game of the Finals. And years later, most of them became traditional NBA powerhouses.
First game: 1950-51 season Rochester Royals 4-3 New York Knicks
If you count the 1948-49 season of the NBA's predecessor, the BAA, the Minneapolis Lakers (and Los Angeles Lakers' predecessor) swept the board with five championships in a six-year span, making them the No. 1 dynasty team in NBA history. The only year in which a title fell by the wayside was the now-mentioned 1950-51 season.
The Minneapolis Lakers relied on the inside dominance of the NBA's first-generation superstar, George McKeon, to get to 44 wins and 24 losses in the regular season. But in the semifinal round of the playoffs, the Lakers were stopped by the 41-win regular-season Rochester Royals and were eliminated from the tournament, 1-3. But the game was much tighter than the big scores made it seem, with three of the four games ending within five points of each other. And all the scores combined netted the Royals just 15 points.
On the other side of the bracket, the New York Knicks didn't have an easy road to advance either, as the 36-30 regular-season Knicks eliminated the 39-30 Boston Celtics that year 2-0 in the first round (each team didn't play exactly the same number of regular-season games that year). In the second round against the Syracuse Nationals, another powerhouse in the league at the time, the Knicks played extremely tough. Two big leads resulted in two ties, and the final game of the series was just a two-point win, 83-81.
The finals then unfolded between two teams that had never been to the finals before. In the first three games, the Rochester Royals relied on their two linemen who averaged double-doubles: 6-foot-7 Jack Coleman and 6-foot-9 Ernie Risen (who was later inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998) to take a 3-0 lead. However, the Knicks, who made it out of the Eastern Conference, were naturally no slouches, slowly adapting to the Royals' style of play over the first three games, losing fewer games than they did. Then, led by Hall of Famer (and 1991 inductee) Harry Gallatin, the Knicks put together a magnificent comeback that surprisingly evened the total.
But in the eventual Game 7 showdown, the Royals relied on home-court advantage to beat the Knicks 79-75 and take home the only championship trophy in team history. Six years later, the Royals moved to Cincinnati, where they had their second peak in team history. The team then moved to Kansas in 1972 and changed its name to the Kings, and in 1986, the team moved from Kansas to Sacramento, the capital of the state of California, where it eventually became known as the Sacramento Kings.
The Comeback: 1951-52 Season Minneapolis Lakers 4-3 New York Knicks
The New York Knicks didn't have much luck, and a year later they once again lost in a seven-game battle in the Finals. This time it was the returning king, the Minneapolis Lakers, who beat them (even worse a year later the Knicks met the Lakers again in the Finals and lost again 1-4, finishing as overall runners-up for the third year in a row). The Knicks played tenaciously enough, falling behind three times overall and tying three times. But the Knicks were completely destroyed by the Lakers in the final game, losing 65-82 by more than 17 points. Throughout the series, George? McCann completely dominated the interior, in the Knicks home court New York even played the New York Knicks on George McCann's appalling sign. This championship laid the groundwork for the Lakers' first dynasty, but also became the foundation for the Lakers to later become one of the NBA's two giants.
The final glory of the first dynasty: 1953-54 season Minneapolis Lakers 4-3 Syracuse Nationals
In the NBA's ancient era, the Syracuse Nationals were a powerhouse, and in the Syracuse Nationals' 14-year history, the team never missed the playoffs. 1963, the team moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, because of a change in ownership. In 1963, the Syracuse Nationals were finally removed from the history books when the owners moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and renamed the team the Philadelphia Seventy-Six, after the Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia in 1776.
And the 1953-54 season was the prelude to the first great period in Syracuse Nationals history, when the team boasted superstars like Dolph Sheavers, who would go on to the Hall of Fame. The Nationals went 42-30 in the regular season and easily knocked off the Boston Celtics 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs to reach the finals. The opposite team, the Lakers, had a bit of a bump in the road, but also knocked off the Rochester Royals 2-1 to reach the finals.
The Lakers and Nationals in the final were a repeat of the Knicks-Lakers game from the year before, with the Lakers taking the lead and the Nationals tying it up again and again, and the Lakers winning again on home court to take the Cup. However, it is worth noting that this is the first seven-game series since the 2-3-2 system was adopted in the Finals. Meanwhile, after the Lakers won the championship, George McKeon quit the league, and the team's other core, later Hall of Famer Jim Pollard also began to deteriorate because of his age, and a year later Pollard retired, the Lakers lost the team's pillar. From then on, the Lakers' record declined, basically out of the championship group, the NBA's first dynasty also announced the disintegration.
Top of the Nation: 1954-55 Syracuse Nation 4-3 Fort Wayne Pistons
After last year's failure, the Nation was motivated to win the title in the new year, and because McCann was out of the league that year, the teams that had been pressured by the Lakers for a long time saw the hope of winning the championship, and the Fort Wayne Pistons were one of them. At the end of the regular season, the Pistons, led by Hall of Famer George Yardley, finished with 43 wins, tied with the Nationals for the league's best record, and were able to bow out of the second round of the playoffs. In the second round, they went on to beat the Celtics, who have gained momentum in recent years, and the Lakers, who are dead and buried, to meet in the finals.
The Nationals were an overwhelming 7-2 against the Pistons in the regular season, so perhaps the Nationals' players and coaches might not have realized before the game what a tough battle was coming up. After narrowly winning the first two games at home, the Nationals actually lost three in a row on the Pistons' home court, falling behind 2-3. Still, the Nationals, who have more playoff experience, were clearly a bit older than the Pistons, and they played the final two home games in a thrilling 4-3 victory that clinched their first championship in franchise history.
Overture to a Boston dynasty: 1956-57 season Boston Celtics 4-3 St. Louis Hawks
If you were to rank the NBA chronicles as the most influential season of all time, 1956-57 would be a shoo-in, if not first. The key to this is that before the season began, Cardinal Auerbach drafted KC Jones (who reported to the team after two years of military service), Tom "Blaster" Heinsohn, and Bill Russell for the Celtics. Russell. And these gods, plus Bill Sharman, who has been in the NBA for six years, and Bob Cousy, became the founding fathers of the Celtics' super-dynasty (all of whom have since been inducted into the Hall of Fame).
As expected, the Celtics quickly rose to power in the league under the Cardinals' leadership. The regular season Boston 44 wins ranked first in the league, which, with the original inside pillar ED - McCray plus Cliff Hagan two later Hall of Fame players in exchange for Russell let the team played a sea change, especially in the defensive end, the 206 cm tall center like a giant shield in the Celtics inside. Plagued Auerbach many years of interior defense problem completely solved. In the second round of the playoffs, the Celtics swept the Syracuse Nationals 3-0 in the second round of the playoffs (because they were guaranteed a spot in the regular-season standings), advancing to the finals.
The St. Louis Hawks (formerly the Atlanta Hawks), who came out of the Western Conference, finished the regular season with a 34-38 record. With the same record they had to beat the Lakers and Pistons in extra innings to get a shot at the Western Conference seeding that guaranteed them a second-round berth. But the Hawks did win the second round relatively easily, eliminating the Lakers 3-0.
In the finals, two teams with strong inside-outside play were in the thick of the action. The Celtics have Russell, needless to say. And the Hawks inside head Bob Petit called the originator of the position of the big forward, strong rebounding ability of the front court also makes him become the so-called "second offense" theory creator, while the Hawks also have from the Celtics exchange ED McCray. Both sides of the back and forth, and eventually fought to the second overtime of the seventh game. Before the end of the game, the Celtics hit two free throws to take a two-point lead, while the Hawks' last-minute gamble of front-court rebound tactics failed to succeed, and the Celtics finally won the first championship trophy in team history.
This one was out of control after that.
The sixties
Throughout the sixties, a **** there were four finals steal seven, the result of which all the Celtics won, which also created the myth of the Celtics finals undefeated in the seventh game, and this spell until the Lakers beat the Celtics in the seventh game of this season's finals to break the
Dynasty! : 1959-60 Season Boston Celtics 4-3 St. Louis Hawks
The Celtics and Hawks met in the Finals for the third straight time during the 1959-60 season, with the Hawks taking advantage of Pettitte's wild play and Russell's foot injury to beat the Celtics 4-2 last year. But this year, the Celtics did not let the past repeat itself, the final game 122-103 outscored the Hawks by 19 points to win the Gold Cup. After this battle, with the aging of Pettitte and others, the Hawks slowly went into decline, and since then until today has not been able to return to the ranks of the championship contending team. Boston, on the other hand, began its 10-year long domination of the league.
The Green Army's suppression: 1961-62; 1965-66; 1968-69; Boston Celtics 4-3 Los Angeles Lakers
Relying on the foundation laid by the Cardinal, the NBA was shrouded in the green terror of the Celtics throughout the 1960s. 10 years, the Celtics only let the title fall by the side of the once, and the shock of the ancient eight consecutive greatness of the crown. The Celtics have been the most popular team in the world for over a decade, and the Celtics have only lost one title in 10 years. And in this sea of green, the re-emergence of the Lakers once and for all played the role of the sad challenger. 10 years time 6 times to challenge the championship all lost. And we listed these three times, is the Lakers in the sixties closest to the championship of the three. In 62 years, the Lakers were only one shot away from the championship, Sylvie; in 66 years, the Lakers almost reversed the 15-point deficit in the second half of the seventh game, but in the focus of the legs before the weakness; and 1969, the seventh game of the Lakers were now the Warriors head coach Nelson's almost popped up outside the upper edge of the rim of the center of the shot to kill the Lakers from the victory in each case were just a hair's breadth away from victory, yet each time it was a breath shorter than the Celtics.
The Seventies
After two decades of development, the NBA began to mature in the Seventies. From the point of view of the league's operation, the competition and merger with the ABA league prompted the NBA to improve on the norms of the re-game system draft trade; from the point of view of the development of players and technology, the NBA in the seventies appeared a large number of stars who played a pioneering role in the development of the later players' technology, such as Maravich, Monroe, Jabbar, Walton, McAdoo, Dr. J, and so on. From the perspective of the overall situation of the league, the seventies can be completely described as "the city head changes the king's flag, you side sing and I ascend to the stage". So in the 1970s, there were three teams on the floor in Game 7 of the Finals that had never been there before.
Reid's return: 1969-70 New York Knicks 4-3 Los Angeles Lakers
With the Celtics getting their 11th title in 1969, the kingpin of the Celtics dynasty, 34-year-old Bill Russell, chose to retire, along with Sam Jones, the Celtics' No. 2 player at the time. Finally, shrouded in the league over the heavy green finally faded, the NBA into chaos. That year, the New York Knicks replaced the Boston Celtics as Eastern Conference champions. And in the West, 31-year-old West, 33-year-old Chamberlain, 35-year-old Baylor once again killed from the Western Conference powerhouse. 18 years later, the two teams once again at the same time stood on the final court.
Eighteen years ago in the finals, New Yorkers watched the Svengali giant with eyes flopping around in their own interior. And now, center Wilt Chamberlain on the Lakers' side is another monster who once scored 100 points on the Knicks. Only, compared to that year less than two meters Harry? Gallatin strong top McCann's powerlessness, this time the Knicks have a weapon that can be countered: Willis Reed. The height of two meters and eight, the style of courageous left-handed center in the first four games of the finals were 37 points, 28 points, 33 points and 23 points, and there is an average of 15 rebounds contributed to lead the Knicks in the first four games of the 2-2 draw with the Lakers. However, tragedy struck when Willis Reed tripped and fell on Chamberlain's leg in the fifth game of the Battle of Kings. Reed leg muscle serious strain, although the Knicks in this one rely on Frazier and DiBaschel full support barely won, but in the sixth game. The Knicks, who lacked an interior prime minister, were pummeled by the Lakers for 135 points and ended up losing by a 23-point margin.
Seeing the seventh game is coming, but with Reed's serious injury common sense obviously can not allow him to continue to play. The strong desire for the championship, the tenacious fighter Reed finally decided to bring the injury to the battlefield. Before the match, Reid received closed treatment, in order to let the drug was injected into Reid's thick muscles, the doctor even used an extremely horrible big needle (Reid later recalled that when he saw this needle, he was scared and almost screamed out). Finally, the game began, limping Reed strutting in the Knicks' home court, the whole audience for the boiling. More incredible is that the leg is seriously injured Reid actually in the opening jump ball jump won the height of 8 centimeters taller than their own Chamberlain, which is not over, Reid even with a jump shot personally hit the first four points of the New York Knicks! The morale of the New York Knicks was at its peak, and the team played a crazy offense led by Frazier, one of the best outside players in the NBA at the time. In the end, Frazier scored 36 points with 19 assists and 5 steals, helping the Knicks beat the Lakers 113-99 to win the championship that year. After the game, Willis Reed, who played with an injury and greatly boosted the team's morale?
Brief resurgence: 1973-74 season Boston Celtics 4-3 Milwaukee Bucks
The downturn brought about by the retirements of Russell and Jones didn't let the Celtics sink, but instead, they took advantage of the downturn to successfully capture a new generation of excellent center Dave Cowens in the high downturn, as well as another team later on. JOJO White. So the Celtics were able to complete the revival in the seventies, and won two championships. But after all, the times are different, the Celtics even though the revival has not been able to establish a dynasty, and therefore the 1973-74 season, and two years later, the 1975-76 season of the second championship, can only be regarded as a short-lived resurgence.
The Milwaukee Bucks, their rivals that year, were a newcomer to the league, joining the league in 1968-68, and relying on the absolute dominance of superstar center Jabbar in the 1970-71 season two seasons later, as well as veteran star Oscar Robertson, the Milwaukee Bucks were the first team in the league to win a championship. The 1973-74 season was the second time that Jabbar and Robertson were together in the Finals.
The return of the newcomers and the resurgence of the dynasty made the '74 Finals a gimmicky affair even before it began. Add in the fact that Cowens, the leader of the two teams, and Jabbar were archrivals, and the '74 Finals turned out to be a fireworks showdown. In the first six games, Cowans tried his best to limit Jabbar's play - after all, as a 206-centimeter white player, Cowans in the talent and physical conditions or 218-centimeter tall "sky hook" a distance. In the sixth game, three seconds before the end of the Jabbar a magnificent hook over the head of the Celtics players, the score was equalized to three to three.
The Celtics changed their strategy in Game 7, changing the team's main point of attack from Havlicek to Cowens, allowing him to blow by Jabbar in the penalty area to offset the Bucks' matchup advantage as much as possible. This strategy played a role in the effect, Cowans cut 28 points and 14 rebounds, and ultimately the Celtics also rely on his excellent play to 102-88 victory in the game, to get the championship that year. Havlicek, who played well throughout the series, was named the Finals MVP.
New generation in charge: 1977-78 Washington Bullets 4-3 Seattle Supersonics
Excluding the Milwaukee Bucks, there were three other teams that made it to the top in the 1970s, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), and the Seattle Seahawks. Washington Wizards), and the Seattle Supersonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder). They won championships in '77, '78, and '79, respectively. It was their presence that established the "chaotic" nature of the NBA in the 1970s.
The 1977-78 season was a true reflection of this chaos. After two rounds of the playoffs, except for the Philadelphia 76ers, who were not eliminated under the leadership of Dr. J, other traditional powerhouses such as the Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Hawks, Pistons, Kings and so on were eliminated or did not make the playoffs at all. Just like the times, the NBA of the 1970s was an anti-traditional league.
That season, the Supersonics were evenly matched at every position. Gus Williams, Marvin Webster, Flood Bowen, Dennis Johnson, and Jack Sikma were all take-home players. The team finished the regular season with seven players averaging double-digit scoring and four at 12 points or more.
The Bullets, in contrast, also finished the regular season with a **** 6 players averaging double figures. But the team's core is more clear, 201 centimeters tall "bone crusher" Onseld and 208 centimeters tall "Big E" Hayes sitting in the interior, a person main attack a person main defense. Don't look at the two now in the fans are not high visibility. But in that era, Onseld is the NBA's most solid zone pillar and cover machine, and he and Chamberlain is the only two players in the history of the league in his rookie season to take the MVP one of the players. With Onseld the same year into the NBA "Big E" Hayes is not to be underestimated, his rookie season took the scoring champion. And he was the best inside player against Jabbar in the 1970s (the rivalry between the two began in college and continued into the NBA). The two just complemented each other's styles, and so the Bullets' inside-outside combo became one of the most feared.
But the fact is, the two teams didn't do well in the regular season that year, with just 43 and 45 wins, respectively. But in the playoffs, they exploded with amazing energy, getting bigger and better. And so the collision between the two teams in the finals became a heated twister. In the first five games, the more spread-out Supersonics took the initiative and led the Bullets 3-2. But with the "UE" duo at the helm, the Bullets brought the Eastern Conference's tenacity to the forefront. The Bullets outscored the Supersonics by a combined 41 points in the final two games. Eventually able to take home the trophy, Onseld was named Finals MVP after averaging 9 points and 12 rebounds per game, while Hayes exclaimed after the game, "Now my resume is finally complete, in that there's not a single person who can say I'm not a championship player."
The Eighties
After the chaos of the Seventies, two rookies who entered the league in 1979, Ervin? Johnson and Larry? Bird brought the NBA into the black-and-white era in the 1980s. And beyond the yellow and green primary colors, the rippling nineties overture is slowly playing.
Another showdown: 1983-84 Boston Celtics 4-3 Los Angeles Lakers
The giants were called giants because they could always rise again quickly after sinking. In the 1980s, the Celtics and the Lakers were once again on top of the world, with the Lakers going to eight Finals and winning four, and the Celtics going to five and winning three. 1983's clash was the second time these two old foes met in the '80s, and that year's Finals resulted in a number of memorable moments that have been talked about ever since - such as Henderson's regular-season win in Game 2, which was the first time the Celtics won a game in the NBA. The Magic's 21 assists and 33-point win in Game 3, McHale's "clothesline drop" on Rambis in Game 4, and the "Magic's" "clothesline drop" on Rambis in Game 4, are just a few of the many stories that have come to be remembered by fans. "Magic" two free throws in the last minute, the fifth game of 35 degrees Celsius "hot battle". In the end, the seventh game, the Celtics curse reappeared, the Lakers 102-111 road loss. Larry Bird was the Finals MVP.
Bad Boy Baptism: 1987-1988 Season Los Angeles Lakers 4-3 Detroit Pistons
The last time the Pistons made it to the Finals was back in the distant past, in 1956. In fact, by the 1980s, the Pistons were in an awkward position as one of the NBA's first few genesis teams without a title. This time, they obviously didn't want to give up the opportunity. After all, have eliminated all the way to the Bulls and Celtics, the two strong enemy. Moreover, the opposite of the defending champion Lakers inside pillar "sky hook" Jabbar, already 40 years old.
And the fact also proved Jabbar's old age, the first game 8 points and 2 rebounds. The Pistons easily stole their first win on the road.
"Worthy is one of the best top 10, if not top five, players in playoff history." -- "Magic" Johnson
In Game 2, with Jabbar still slumping and Magic actually coming down with a cold, '82 first-round pick James Worthy stepped up and scored 26 points to save his second home game. 26 points to save the second home game.
The Lakers took the third game on the Pistons' home court for a while. But in Game 4, the Pistons outscored the Lakers 111-86 by 25 points. The first three quarters of Game 5 were close, but the Pistons in the fourth quarter went into a frenzy under the Lakers' basket, splitting 10 front boards and crushing the Lakers' zone defense.
Coming to Los Angeles, the Pistons were determined to win in Game Six. Isaiah Thomas set an NBA Finals record with six steals in the game, and although he sprained his ankle, he still played with the injury in the third quarter to break the league finals single-quarter scoring record of 25 points, scoring 43 points in the game. Lakers in the first half of the big lead by the "smiling assassin" a person a little bit eaten, but Worthy and Scott's hand for the Lakers to keep the lifeline, the final Pistons 102-103 one-point loss.
The last game, Worthy finally let people understand their "big game james" nickname came from. 36 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists, a big triple-double, the Lakers three-point win.
But although the Lakers won the championship, but for the Badgers to complete the final baptism, a year later, the Lakers were no longer able to stop the Badgers' progress, the Pistons swept the Lakers 4-0 in the finals to get the first championship in team history, avenging the loss.
The Nineties
The Nineties belonged to the Bulls, to Jordan, and they didn't even need to play seven games in the Finals to prove their might. And so the only seven-game Finals battle of the '90s took place the year Jordan switched to baseball.
Crack in time: 1993-94 Houston Rockets 4-3 New York Knicks
These were two teams that were too much alike - the super center, iron power forward and shooting guards were practically from the same mold. The Rockets' interior core of Olajuwon and Thorpe were the No. 1 and No. 9 rookies in 1984, wearing Nos. 34 and 33, respectively. The Knicks' interior duo of Ewing and Oakley, on the other hand, were the No. 1 rookie and No. 9 rookie in 1985, wearing Nos. 33 and 34, respectively. Both teams had 57 regular season wins for the Knicks and 58 for the Rockets. In the playoffs, the two teams eliminated last year's Eastern and Western Conference champions, the Bulls and the Suns, by 4-2 scores, so when the Finals began, viewers might have gotten the impression that the same teams were wearing different uniforms and fighting each other on the court.
So the game naturally became a mutual disarming tussle, with the two defensive-minded teams almost turning the basketball court into a wrestling ring. None of the seven games went over 100 points, and none of them were separated by more than ten points. With shooting percentages fluctuating around 40%, the game was filled with fouls, free throws, and a seemingly never-ending collision of muscles. After a 2-2 tie in the first four games, Ewing exploded in Game 5, delivering 25 points and 12 rebounds to go along with eight big baskets. The Knicks took the series high ground.
In Game 6, the Rockets couldn't back down. As the game reached the fourth quarter, Knicks guard Starks suddenly went berserk, tossing in three 3-pointers plus a number of layups in a single quarter. Rockets head coach Tomjanovich hysterically yelled at his players, "If you lose this game, you'll regret it for the rest of your lives!" Finally the Rockets were able to withstand the New Yorkers' bombardment, and at the last moment Olajuwon darted in to cover Starks' three-point shot. Took the sixth game which was a matter of life and death. After that, the Rockets' morale was boosted, and they took the final game at home. Olajuwon scored 25 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Before Game 6, Knicks head coach Pat Riley said. Riley had said: "If we can't win this one, Game 7 will be Hakeem's world." It turned out to be prophetic in the end.
Finally, Olajuwon was expected to be the Finals MVP, and the next year the Rockets staged a second-half saga in which the 48-win Texas cockroaches crawled over the corpses of three 60-win teams to reach the finals and sweep the O'Neal-led Magic. Houston also became the only team to take the title in between Jordan's retirements.
The 21st Century
It's hard to argue that the Spurs' four titles in nine years doesn't count as a dynasty - after all, the Spurs haven't defended their title once. But that hasn't stopped the Spurs from being great, and this 2005 Finals against the Pistons is a classic.
Wizards vs. Assassins: 2004-05 San Antonio Spurs 4-3 Detroit Pistons
What was expected to be a close game was actually one-sided for the first four games. The Pistons were unable to limit the sudden emergence of Ginobili, allowing him to score 53 points on 16-of-24 shooting in the first two games. What's even more frightening is that his two fouls accumulated seventeen free throws, the Pistons proud of the interior defense was torn apart by his stride cuts. The chain reaction caused the Pistons' defense to lose sight of its strengths and the Spurs threw in 15 3-pointers.
And Pistons head coach Larry Brown would never allow the same problem to happen three times in a row.
Three or four times, the Pistons shut down Ginobili, accumulating just 19 points allowed. Meanwhile, the thickness of the interior is starting to come into play. Duncan shot 33 percent and 29 percent in the two games. In Auburn Hills "hell" palace ballroom, the momentum was completely reversed back, the Pistons two games a **** won 48 points.
So the fifth game became an early battle of life and death. If the Spurs' morale is difficult to guarantee if they are taken down three games in a row, the remaining two home games are likely to be untenable. And for the Pistons, if they lose the Heavenly King Mountain, facing two consecutive road games, the Pistons are not sure to win it all. For such a game, both sides do not dare to have the slightest carelessness, the game was played into a stranglehold battle. But just then, Robert Hawley appeared. The most famous role player in the history of the league, the big game assassin made his killer move. Starting with a whistling three in the third quarter, Hawley hit five three-pointers in 17 minutes, and in the final moments, the 34-year-old even finished with a lob in Hamilton's face! So in Auburn Hills, the Spurs used a close 1-point overtime victory over the Tigers.
But the Pistons didn't want to give up the resistance so quickly, with Billups tossing in five 3-pointers alone in the sixth and Hamilton shooting 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting. The backcourt duo kicked in, and the Pistons scraped through Game Six.
In Game 7, in response to Billups' 3-pointers in the previous game the Spurs made an adjustment when Bruce Bowen started defending Billups in the fourth quarter. Closely guarded by the league's No. 1 outside defensive specialist, Billups was lost when it mattered most. Spurs also rely on team defense and Ginobili's resurrection gradually stepped on the lead and eventually won. After the game, Duncan was elected MVP of the finals, it is worth mentioning that the last game Robert? Holly was 4 of 7 from the field and scored the team's third 15 points