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NBA Finals and Champions: Facts

NBA Finals, playoffs and champions: deciding games, the biggest comebacks and historic series.

5 George Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five titles between 1949 and 1954. He was so dominant that the league doubled the width of the lane in 1951 to slow him down.

1951 The Sacramento Kings have just one NBA title, won back in 1951, when they were the Rochester Royals.

125-123 Game 7 of the 1957 Finals is the only Finals Game 7 ever to go to double overtime. Boston beat the St. Louis Hawks 125-123 for their first title.

50 Bob Pettit scored 50 points in Game 6 of the 1958 Finals, including 19 of his team's last 21. It remains the only title in Hawks history.

8 The Celtics won eight titles in a row from 1959 to 1966, the longest championship streak in North American pro sports.

40 With five seconds left in Game 7 of the 1962 Finals, Lakers guard Frank Selvy missed an open shot that would have won the title. Boston won in overtime, and Bill Russell grabbed 40 rebounds.

1965 John Havlicek's late steal in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern finals saved Boston against Philadelphia. Radio voice Johnny Most's cry, Havlicek stole the ball, became legendary.

108-106 Before Game 7 of the 1969 Finals the Lakers' owner hung thousands of 'World Champion Lakers' balloons from the roof. Boston won 108-106, and the balloons never came down.

1970 Willis Reed limped onto the court with a torn thigh muscle before Game 7 of the 1970 Finals, hit the Knicks' first two baskets and inspired their first ever title.

128-126 Game 5 of the 1976 Finals needed three overtimes. Boston beat Phoenix 128-126 in what is often called the greatest game ever played.

105-99 In 1978 the Washington Bullets won Game 7 of the Finals 105-99 in Seattle. Until 2016 it was the only title won in a Game 7 on the road.

42 In Game 6 of the 1980 Finals, 20-year-old rookie Magic Johnson started at center for the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and had 42 points and 15 rebounds to clinch the title.

40-42 In 1981 the Houston Rockets reached the Finals with a losing record of 40 wins and 42 defeats. They lost the Finals to Boston.

0-8 Before 1985 the Lakers had lost all eight of their Finals against Boston. In 1985 they finally won, the first visiting team ever to clinch a title at the Boston Garden.

25 Isiah Thomas scored 25 points in one quarter of Game 6 of the 1988 Finals while playing on a badly sprained ankle, still a Finals record.

8 In 1994 the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets knocked out top seed Seattle, the first time that had ever happened. Dikembe Mutombo lay on the floor hugging the ball in celebration.

1995 The 1995 Houston Rockets won the title as the sixth seed in the West, the lowest-seeded champion in NBA history.

0.4 With 0.4 seconds left in a 2004 playoff game against San Antonio, Derek Fisher caught the ball, turned and hit the winner for the Lakers.

27 In Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals against Golden State, the Houston Rockets missed 27 three-pointers in a row.

2019 Kawhi Leonard's buzzer-beater in Game 7 against Philadelphia in 2019 bounced four times on the rim before dropping. It was the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history.

8 From 2019 to 2026 the NBA had eight different champions in a row: the Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics, Thunder and Knicks. It is the longest such run in league history.

50 Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points in Game 6 of the 2021 Finals to give Milwaukee its first title since 1971.

2023 The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA title in 2023, 47 years after joining from the ABA. Nikola Jokić was Finals MVP.

18 In 2024 the Boston Celtics won their 18th title, moving ahead of the Lakers for the most NBA championships.

4-1 In June 2026 the New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 to win the NBA title. Jalen Brunson was Finals MVP.

29 In Game 4 of the 2026 Finals the Knicks came back from 29 points down and won 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. It was the biggest comeback in Finals history.

45 In the 2026 title-clinching game in San Antonio Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, matching Michael Jordan's record for a road clincher.

0 In the 2026 Finals the Spurs lost all three home games, the first team since the 1993 Phoenix Suns to do so.

1 In 2026 the Knicks became the first team to win the NBA Cup and the championship in the same season.

11 Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles with the Boston Celtics in 13 seasons, more than any other player.

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