Top 5 Highest Scoring Performances in Game 7 of the NBA Finals

In every NBA Finals, Game 7 serves as the culmination of the entire basketball season. It is not always a given, as the majority of Finals end in fewer than seven games. But when it goes to seven, anything is up for grabs.

Game 7 serves as a do-or-die situation, particularly in the NBA Finals. Whichever team walks away with the victory will walk away with the championship, while the other team will experience agonizing defeat. The series suddenly becomes a best-of-one, where anything can happen.

Like the other Games of the NBA Finals, Game 7 has been host to plenty of explosive offensive performances. These players have put the game on their back when it (literally) mattered the most, either ensuring their team the championship or the season all being for naught. The following are the highest-scoring individual performances of any Game 7 in NBA Finals history.

1 Jerry West – 42 Points (1969)

West put up 42 points in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals

The iconic Jerry West put up many outstanding offensive performances throughout his career, but perhaps the most clutch came during Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals. While his Los Angeles Lakers did not win the game (and therefore the title), it was his performance that gave them the largest chance, and it ended up being the highest-scoring performance in Game 7 of any NBA Finals.

The game saw “The Logo” record a triple-double in the do-or-die Game 7. 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists were what gave the Lakers a chance in the game.

It can be argued that the only reason why the Lakers were able to extend the series to seven in the first place was because of West. His 53 points in Game 1 of the series set the record for the highest-scoring performance of any Game 1 in Finals history.

Unfortunately for West and the Lakers, they once again could not get the upper hand on the Boston Celtics. West’s 42 points were just not enough to get the win over the Celtics, who would win the game by a score of 108-106, and their 11th championship.

2 Elgin Baylor – 41 Points (1962)

Baylor put up 41 points in Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals

The story of the NBA throughout the 1960s was that no team could beat the Celtics. This was especially true for the Lakers, who faced them a multitude of times in the NBA Finals in that decade but never got a single win against them in that era. Like 1969, the same was true seven years earlier.

The 1962 NBA Finals saw the Lakers face off against the Celtics, and Jerry West was a rookie. Elgin Baylor was the centerpiece of this team, and in Game 7 of that year’s iteration of the basketball classic, he would put up a monster performance of 41 points and 22 rebounds.

Once again, that performance would simply not be enough to get the win over the Celtics. The Lakers would narrowly lose the game by a score of 110-107, and their chances of topping Boston in the Finals faded away yet again.

3 Bob Pettit – 39 Points (1957)

Pettit put up 39 points in Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Finals

Prior to the 1957 NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics had lacked any championship titles, rendering it an unusual time in the league’s history. That would, of course, change in that year’s Finals, as the Celtics toppled the St. Louis Hawks in seven games to win their first.

But Bob Pettit still gave it his all. He and the Hawks would manage to topple the Celtics in the following year’s Finals in 1958, but they could not get it done in 1957 despite Pettit’s epic performance in Game 7, where he scored 39 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 assists.

As has been the case for the other Game 7 offensive performances, the team in question simply could not topple the Celtics. The Hawks narrowly lost the game by a score of 125-123, despite Pettit’s performance, and the Celtics went on to win their first title – and the rest is history.

4 Tom Heinsohn – 37 Points (1957)

Heinsohn put up 37 points in Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Finals

A primary reason for Bob Pettit and the Hawks failing to topple the Celtics in Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Finals was the performance of that year’s Rookie of the Year: Tom Heinsohn. Heinsohn also went off in the very same game that Pettit scored 39 points — Heinsohn recorded 37 points and 23 rebounds in the same game.

Heinsohn’s 37 points were by far the most of any Celtic in that game, with Bill Russell being the next-highest scorer with 19 points. Despite scoring fewer points than Bob Pettit, Heinsohn’s 37 points were enough to get the crucial Game 7 win over the Hawks, and it resulted in the Celtics winning their very first title in franchise history.

5 LeBron James – 37 Points (2013)

James put up 37 points in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals

Fresh off of his first title with the Miami Heat in 2012, LeBron James sought to return to that glory in 2013. And thanks to an insane Game 7 performance against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals, he did just that.

James notched a double-double in Game 7, recording 37 points and 12 rebounds. His performance was more than enough to get the 95-88 win over Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs, and it allowed the Heat to repeat as champions for the first time in their history (and notch their third and to-date last title).

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