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The NBA season is officially upon us, and it has been a good year. Unlike the previous year, when the matches had to be organized inside the bubble, all the teams had a comeback to their respective arenas with their fans. The energy and the vibe have also come back. The league is famous for producing such great sporting moments in history. We will take you through some of the most iconic moments in NBA history over the past two decades. There are a lot of choices and great moments that can be seen as memorable. That is why this list was even more tricky to create. But without any hesitation, we present you with our list of some of the most iconic moments in the NBA.
The feat performed by the Cavaliers and LeBron James was one of the most iconic moments in the history of the league. The team was trailing by a couple of games against the Golden State Warriors. They also had the services of the MVP of the league and were coming off a season with more than seventy wins. The Cavaliers had to gain victory in the next couple of matches on the road. The Warriors had only lost a couple of matches played at home in the whole season. Against such seemingly undefeatable odds, the heroics of Kyrie Irving and James were seen as unbelievable. They both scored more than forty points in the next match and put on some iconic moments in the final game. The players placed a whole city on their back and took the team to one of the best titles in sporting history.
We all remember the vivid images of fans of the Heat leaving the arena early because they thought that there was no hope remaining in the Finals. They then had to rush back to the building after Miami took the game into overtime. The most stand-out feature of the night was the perfect footwork of Ray Allen. The shot from one of the best long shot takers in the sport was world-class and bailed out his team from losing yet another Finals appearance.
Some moments stay with the fans forever. That is what makes them really iconic. For many fans, the performance of Allen Iverson in the first match of the NBA Finals twenty-one years ago will always be fresh. In fact, it made many people fall in love with the sport. Viewers believed that anything was achievable. His team did not win another match in that entire series. But the player showed that a single player could carry the team to an unexpected win. The highlights of the match are also quite fun to watch. Ty Lue will never be able to escape from this iconic moment in NBA.
We will never get to see Kawhi Leonard's emotions on this night again. This is because the Clippers player is as robotic as a player can be in sports. He prefers to let very few words come out of his mouth. But that day in Canada, he launched an incredibly high jumper over the tall Joel Embiid. Then, he sat down to see it rattle off the rim several times before the ball went through the net. After that, the player let out a great roar. But it was completely deserved. Not many players can claim to end a series on a buzzer-beater. It is very difficult even to get a shot at the rim.
The two players deserve multiple places in this list. The alley-oop was against the TrailBlazers in the final match of the Western Conference Finals at the start of the millennium. The manner in which Kobe went through the lane before launching the ball through the air for Shaq to get it with a single hand and slam it down is still so great to watch. The way the entire crowd erupted was also quite amazing. Shaq went up and down the court, yelling and pointing. It is very hard to get a duo such as these two. You will not find it hard to admit, even if you were not a Lakers fan.
Unofficial HBA history was created on that night in Portland since the entire internet obtained a great meme out of a match-winner. The superstar from the Blazers waved his goodbyes to the Thunder squad. During the match, the players from both teams did not have a lot of respect for each other. The cameras went right to the celebrations in the middle of the basketball court and got footage of the goodbyes. The players from the Blazers were behaving like giddy children. But there was not a lot of joy on the players of the opposing camp.
LeBron gave such a great performance in an away match in the playoffs against the Pistons. He scored nearly fifty points that looked effortless. There were no other real match-winners for his team that night. Still, the great defense of the Pistons was not able to stop the player. They threw the kitchen sink at him. It felt like he was playing alone against the entire opposition at times. Still, the player did not get his first championship for several more years. But this is still one of the most iconic moments in NBA history.
The rivalry between the Kings and the Lakers finished in the Western Conference Finals two decades ago. The Kings were always seen as a punching bag for the strong Lakers side. The latter was on the brink of seizing the lead of a couple of matches in the series between them. At that time, one of the best clutch shooters in the league took control. The man was Robert Horry. His long-range shot just before the buzzer took place shook the arena. This was after a few quick attempts at the basket by O'Neal and Kobe that failed to hit the mark. Kings player Vlade Divac got the ball out of the paint after the miss by O'Neal only to see it go to Horry when the Lakers were down by a couple of points and the time was about to run out.
This was the first time that a team ranked ninth ever defeated a team that had the top rank in a complete series in the history of the league. The Warriors created history and did so in a great fashion against the Mavericks. The electricity of the team in that series was amazing. Never before had a crowd been that wild in the arena of any NBA match. That Warriors team had magic behind them.
Kobe was able to carry a team on his own. This win eventually led him to win a couple of more titles for the team. The series was lost against the Suns. But the player gave one of his best playoff moments because of his shot that won that match in the series. The shot had Kobe written all over it. He faded back and simply drilled it. Kobe was also instrumental in drawing the match in the final moments for his team. He was literally playing single-handedly for his team.
Conclusion:
There are numerous iconic moments in NBA history, and it is not easy to single out some of them. The selections can differ based on the opinions of individuals. We all have our best moments in the league. But these iconic moments in NBA history have been enjoyed by most fans of the sport. The NBA is one of the most famous sporting leagues on the planet. It has a great history with incredible moments and players.
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