Watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals live on Sky Sports Arena in the early hours of Friday morning (2am)
Wednesday 29 May 2019 17:35, UK
The NBA Finals have provided the stage for the NBA's greatest players to make career-defining plays. Relive magical Finals moments from Michael Jordan, LeBron James and more.
At the time this was meant to be the final shot Jordan would ever take in the NBA. He was headed for retirement, but of course returned to play for the Washington Wizards after the turn of the millennium.
Jordan was a force of nature on both ends of the court and it showed here as he stole the ball in the post from Karl Malone of all people, with the Utah Jazz leading by a point. He then dribbled down the court and then showed off the crossover before firing over the top of Bryon Russell to net the game-winning shot with just over five seconds left.
The 20-footer ended up securing a third successive title for the Bulls and it signalled the end of an era in the NBA as the game's most dominant player ever bowed out.
Jordan wasn't the same in his swansong in the capital, so this really was the last we saw of the 'real' Jordan in the NBA - what a play to finish on.
The single most iconic moment of Magic Johnson's glittering NBA career came when he unleashed a running floater that almost seemed to go in slow motion to win Game 4 and put his team 3-1 ahead in the 1987 finals series against the Celtics.
After trailing by 16 at half-time the Lakers fought back in the second half and with seven seconds left on the clock at the Boston Garden, Johnson made a timeless play.
After taking an inbounds pass from Michael Cooper, Johnson bamboozled Kevin McHale with a hesitation dribble before heading inside the lane to unleash his shot which arced beyond McHale and Robert Parish to swish through the net.
The Lakers went on to finish their 10th NBA Finals series in six games to win the championship and Magic's baby hook was the pivotal moment.
The highlight of Jordan's first NBA Finals came in Game 2 of their five-game dismantling of the post-Showtime Lakers and Marv Albert's commentary remains synonymous with the highlight moment.
"A spec-TAC-ular play by Michael Jordan," he exclaimed, after the Chicago Bulls legend switched hands in mid-air for a lay-up in the fourth quarter.
Cliff Levingston found Jordan near the key and with a perfectly-calculated amount of spin on the ball, switched from his right arm to his left as he became aware of Sam Bowie's presence and ricocheted the ball off the backboard for the basket.
The athleticism on show from Jordan was spectacular and his first title would arrive before long.
After missing most of the previous two games through the injury, Bryant ignored a sprained ankle to score 28 and put the LA Lakers 3-1 ahead in the series against Indiana despite "throbbing" pain in a match which went to overtime.
It was a phenomenal performance and one that typified his fighting spirit. Shaquille O'Neal fouled out of the game and rather than letting it beat him, Bryant used it as fuel and doubled his efforts.
The culmination of the Black Mamba's inspiring display, where he ended up clocking a remarkable 47 minutes in total, was a reverse-layup putback from him which sealed the win with 5.9 seconds left.
And it was a big moment in the history of the franchise, as it put the Lakers just one game away from what would be the first of three straight titles for the Los Angeles ballclub.
If you wished to showcase everything that made Allen Iverson truly in a single play, this would probably be it.
His trademark crossover dribble left Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyronn Lue spinning and Iverson, coming off the back of an MVP season with the Philadelphia 76ers, stepped back and hit a fadeaway jumper over the falling defender.
Iverson then took an exaggerated step over the prone Lue on his way back up the court - not the most respectful choice.
But then he was always one to do things his own way. He scored 48 points in this game on the way to an overtime win.
The success was short-lived though as the Lakers stormed back to win the next four games in what was Iverson's only trip to the championship round.
'Big Shot Bob' made a career out of hitting big shots in big moments and his game-winning three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons to help the San Antonio Spurs crucially nudge ahead in the series, which went all the way to seven games in the end.
It was the fifth shot from beyond the arc on a productive night for Horry and it gave the Spurs the single-point margin they needed to claim victory in overtime.
Rasheed Wallace, a fearsome defender for the Pistons, miscalculated badly as he went out to help on Manu Ginobili, leaving Horry free to hit from distance with just 5.8 seconds to play.
It proved pivotal, with the Spurs eventually winning in seven, and Horry's shot might just have been the most important moment in helping to deliver that title.
After becoming infamous as the central figure in the Malice at the Palace game where a brawl broke out between Detroit Pistons fans and the Indiana Pacers at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004, this was the high point of Ron Artest's rollercoaster NBA career.
In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the sport's two most successful teams and biggest rivals met and it looked like it was going to go down to the wire as Bryant suffered an absolute nightmare on the biggest stage of all.
The Lakers' franchise star put in a putrid 6-for-24 shooting display and the Celtics were within three points with just over a minute left.
But that was when Artest, now known as Metta World Peace, stepped up.
He fired a three-pointer over the outstretched hand of Paul Pierce to increase the lead to six points and that gave the Lakers the cushion they needed to see the series out and claim the NBA title for the 16th time.
The Miami Heat's chances of a second consecutive title looked very bleak in Game 6 against the San Antonio Spurs.
In fact, officials were preparing to present the Larry O'Brien trophy to Gregg Popovich's team as the Spurs led by five with less than half-a-minute left.
LeBron James missed a three-point shot but Chris Bosh came up with the biggest rebound in the Heat's franchise history and then dished quickly to Ray Allen who was back-pedalling towards the corner.
Allen pulled the trigger quickly and found the basket to tie the game and send it to overtime with 5.2 on the clock.
The Heat prevailed in the extra period and subsequently took Game 7 to win their third NBA championship.
The final two moments on our list come from the same game, when the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their historic comeback from 3-1 down in the NBA Finals against the 73-win Golden State Warriors to claim the franchise's only title to date.
LeBron James is said to have reached a speed of over 20mph as he chased back Andre Iguodala who started the Warriors' fast break and took a bounce pass from Stephen Curry before going up for a lay-up that would break the 89-89 tie, which had stood from the 4:39 mark in the final frame, and ignite the Oracle Arena crowd.
But James had other ideas and chased down Iguodala, batting his attempt against the backboard to get possession back for his time.
It was a typical example of the kind of defensive play that can ignite a team in any game - except it was in Game 7 of the finals on the opposing team's floor.
LeBron lives for the big moment and this was a prime example of him delivering when he needed to. The Warriors, despite all their offensive potency, didn't score another point in the game.
The dagger for the Warriors came from Kyrie Irving with 53 seconds to go, as he notched the final field goal of the game.
They used a pick-and-roll to get Golden State's Stephen Curry switched defensively onto Irving in place of Klay Thompson. Although he couldn't find a way past the two-time MVP, Irving - whose ball-handling skills are arguably the best in the game - dazzled the defense with some quick moves, then stepped sideways just beyond the arc to shoot and it rattled in, putting the Cavs ahead.
It was a seismic shot and the final 53 seconds was eaten up by a lot of fouls, with the only other point scored by LeBron James, who made one-of-two from the foul line.
Fans will never forget that shot and everything it meant in such a tight game.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals takes place in Toronto in the early hours of Friday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
