{"id":143556,"date":"2025-06-05T16:21:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=143556"},"modified":"2025-06-05T16:21:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:21:32","slug":"game-1-finals-moments-nba-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/05\/game-1-finals-moments-nba-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Game 1 Finals Moments in NBA History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Game 1 of the NBA Finals often sets the bar for how the series will go. While some players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> often say it is a feel-out game, Game 1 has immense value to the rest of the series. Through the course of NBA history, Game 1 of the Finals has brought some iconic moments. Let\u2019s revisit some of them.<\/p>\n<h2>Top 5 Game 1 Finals Moments in NBA History<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/05\/thunder-pacers-best-prop-bets-nba-finals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Game 1 of the NBA Finals<\/a> has had it all. From iconic game winners to some spectacular dunks and crafty moves, let\u2019s take a look at some of the best moments.<\/p>\n<h3>Larry Bird Recovers His Own Miss<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/birdla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Bird<\/a> helped the Boston Celtics win three championships in the 1980s. He won his first in 1981, after beating the Houston Rockets 4-2. But in Game 1, Larry showed his craftiness by having one of the most memorable shots in NBA Finals history.<\/p>\n<p>At the same moment Bird fired up a shot, he ran to the basket&#8212;knowing that he would miss it&#8212;jumped for the rebound, and shot while in the air. That play shows the IQ of one of the greatest players to play this game.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"When Larry Bird&#039;s putback lifted Celtics over Rockets in 1981 NBA Finals | ESPN Archives\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RwjTw40mfls?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Kobe Bryant Puts the Nets in Place<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bryanko01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kobe Bryant<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/onealsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a> won three championship titles together. Shaq won the Finals MVP in each of those three Finals, but Kobe was no slouch either. In the 2002 Finals against the New Jersey Nets, Kobe made sure to put the Nets in place from the get-go. He dribbled between two defenders and then posterized <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maccuto01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Todd MacCulloch<\/a>, a 7-foot center.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kobe Bryant Posterizes Todd MacCulloch (Game 1 - 2002 NBA Finals vs. New Jersey Nets)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9EDilYikI1k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Allen Iverson, The Step Over<\/h3>\n<p>In the 2001 playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers stormed through opponents, sweeping everyone en route to the Finals. There, they were heavily favored against the Philadelphia 76ers, led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iversal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Allen Iverson<\/a>. But in Game 1, Allen was sensational. The step over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/luety01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyronn Lue<\/a> after a made three-pointer is the one that Philly fans remember to this day. Sadly, the Sixers didn\u2019t win another game, but they managed to get one on one of the best Lakers teams in recent history.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Allen Iverson&#039;s ICONIC Step-Over On Tyronn Lue\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nZ-IGlZKECI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Michael Jordan vs. Bryon Russell \u2013 Part 1<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a> hit a couple of shots over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russebr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryon Russell<\/a> in the Finals in the 1990s. He even finished his Bulls career with a game-winner over Russell.<\/p>\n<p>But it all began in the 1997 NBA Finals. In Game 1, with the score tied at 82, Jordan got the ball, dribbled, pulled up, and hit the game-winner against Russell and the Jazz. One year later, he would do it again, but in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Michael Jordan Hit Game Winner in Game 1 (1997.06.01)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OTnL4ta0QV0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Michael Jordan, the Shrug<\/h3>\n<p>Before the 1992 NBA Finals, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/drexlcl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clyde Drexler<\/a> was pegged as an equal to Jordan. To be fair, Drexler had an amazing season and finished second in MVP voting behind MJ. With the whole world watching, Michael wanted to remind everyone how much better he was than Clyde. As we saw in &#8220;The Last Dance,&#8221; he has a tendency to take things personal. MJ hit six threes without missing and then gave the iconic Shrug. Chicago would go on to win the series 4-2, routing the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1, 122-89.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Michael Jordan shrugs after making six 3s in first half of 1992 Finals Game 1 | ESPN Archives\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/03GT8q3BCZY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Michael Chow\/The Republic \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Game 1 of the NBA Finals often sets the bar for how the series will go. While some players like LeBron James often say it is a feel-out game, Game 1 has immense value to the rest of the series. Through the course of NBA history, Game 1 of the Finals has brought some iconic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":143585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,8,2,31,26,62,13,24],"tags":[122,551,455,607],"class_list":["post-143556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-bulls","category-featured","category-rockets","category-lakers","category-nba","category-76ers","category-jazz","tag-allen-iverson","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-larry-bird","tag-michael-jordan"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143556"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143584,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143556\/revisions\/143584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}