Ranking Greatest Game 7 Performances in NBA Finals History

Hall of Fame legacies aren't built overnight. And greatest-ever debates aren't centered around single-game performances.

There are always going to be career-defining moments that work themselves into the discussions, but these are just the icing on the cake. What really separates good from great players and great ones from the true elites is sustained success.

Of course, like with any other compelling basketball conversations, there are always exceptions to the rule. And there may be no greater exception to the quantity over quality qualifier than Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

After years of preparation, months of hard-fought games and three-plus rounds of playoff battles, the greatest gift from the basketball gods is when an entire season comes down to just 48 minutes of hoops.

For just the 18th time in NBA history, the 2012-13 season yielded one of these gifts. The Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs made good on commissioner David Stern's bold prediction that the two teams would produce a championship series for the ages.

After each club traded victories over the first six games of the series, Miami finally pieced together back-to-back wins to secure its third championship in franchise history. And no player proved more instrumental in making that a reality than four-time MVP LeBron James.

James exploded for a game-high 37 points and tracked down a team-best 12 rebounds while logging exactly 45 of the game's 48 minutes. That performance cemented his status as the series MVP, making him just the third player in league history (along with Michael Jordan and Bill Russell) to capture a regular-season MVP and the championship series hardware in back-to-back seasons.

Now that James' 2013 Game 7 story has officially been written, it's time to identify its place in the NBA's glorious chapter of heroic Game 7 performances.

So just where did the King's most recent outing leave him slotted on this list? Read on to find out.

7. Dave Cowens, 1974

Surprised to see former Boston Celtics star Dave Cowens make the list?

Well, you shouldn't be. He was named an NBA All-Star eight times and averaged a double-double (17.6 points and 13.6 rebounds) over his 11-year Hall of Fame career.

But he may have surprised himself with his effort in Game 7 of the 1974 NBA Finals. The 6'9" Cowens was matched up with the 7'2" Milwaukee Bucks big man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was already an NBA champion and was still searching for display space for his third MVP award in a four-year stretch.

Cowens, though, emerged victorious in the interior battle. He outscored his counterpart 28-26 and edged him on the glass with a 14-13 advantage.

The Celtics controlled the fourth quarter by a count of 31-21 and brought Boston its first Bill Russell-less NBA championship.

6. Hakeem Olajuwon, 1994

With the championship field opened up by Chicago Bulls megastar Michael Jordan's (first) abrupt retirement, the league's biggest stars raced to pursue a title that was finally attainable once again.

The 1994 NBA Finals pitted the Houston Rockets against the New York Knicks, a matchup that forced all interested eyes into the post. There Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing put their reputations on the line (and their teams on their backs) with the chance to cement their legacy with basketball's greatest trophy.

After a six-game slugfest failed to produce a champion, a winner-take-all Game 7 tasked both talented trees with guiding their clubs through a 48-minute battle of wills.

Let's just say Olajuwon's never wavered. He flooded his stat sheet with 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks while holding Ewing to just 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field.

Olajuwon's Rockets outlasted Ewing's Knicks, 90-84, sparking a two-year title run for Houston.

5. LeBron James, 2013

Every year, LeBron James seems to scratch something else off of his to-do list.

And that's no simple task considering his resume already included an NBA championship, a pair of Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, a Finals MVP and three regular-season MVP awards before the 2012-13 season started.

Far from satisfied, though, James kept finding new ways to improve his game. The results of his work were immediately apparent. He set career highs in both field-goal (56.5 percent) and three-point shooting (40.6 percent), which proved to be a pivotal development by year's end.

The Spurs dared James to beat them with the jump shot, and the King delivered when it mattered most. He buried five of his 10 three-point attempts, and nine of his 12 made field goals came from outside of the paint.

His efficient aggressiveness made Miami the only repeat champions other than the Los Angeles Lakers since 1999.

4. Walt Frazier, 1970

Although Willis Reed's inspirational appearance still reigns as the most iconic moment of the 1970 NBA Finals, it would have lost some of its luster if not for the steady play of New York Knicks point guard Walt "Clyde" Frazier.

At the very least it would have derailed New York's bid for the franchise's first championship.

But enough about the potential damage, let's talk about his wildly productive night. 

Just two days and one cross-country flight after a ruthless 135-113 beatdown at the hands of the Lakers, Frazier was clearly thrilled to be back inside Madison Square Garden. The Hall of Famer erupted for a game-high 36 points, burying all 12 of his free-throw attempts.

Those 36 points alone make him worthy for consideration here, but his production in other areas cemented his status in the top four. Frazier tossed out 19 assists and grabbed seven rebounds, as the Knicks cruised to a worse-than-it-sounded 113-99 win.

3. James Worthy, 1988

Hall of Famer James Worthy would have been the focal point of most teams.

But his Showtime Lakers weren't just another team. With Magic Johnson manning the point and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar locking down the middle, Worthy said he was reduced to being the "third wheel," via Andy Kamenetzky of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

As the self-proclaimed third wheel, he felt a constant need to prove he belonged. On June 21, 1988, Worthy didn't just belong on the team; he put them on his back.

He exploded for a game-high 36 points, shooting a blistering 68.2 percent from the field (15-of-22).

And he didn't stop there. He ripped off a Magic-like triple-double, pulling down 16 rebounds and tossing out 10 assists.

The Lakers edged the Detroit Pistons 108-105, giving the franchise its first successful title defense since leaving Minneapolis in 1960.

2. Bill Russell, 1962

There's a reason that the Finals MVP award is named after the league's greatest champion of all time. Bill Russell had a knack for giving his team whatever it needed, typically in historic quantities.

By the 1961-62 season, his Boston Celtics weren't sneaking up on anyone. They had four rings to show for Russell's first five seasons in the league and a six-game championship series to Bob Pettit's St. Louis Hawks for the other year.

Of course, knowing what was coming and finding a way to stop it are two completely different things.

And Russell wasted no time teaching the Los Angeles Lakers about those differences. He repeatedly punished L.A. on the glass, finding his way to a finals record 40 rebounds.

When a number of Boston's biggest scoring threats (notably Tom Heinsohn and Frank Ramsey) fouled out of the overtime game, the Celtics needed Russell to pick up the slack. He finished the game with 30 points (nearly double his career average), and Boston escaped with a 110-107 win.

By the time Russell walked away after the 1968-69 season, he had delivered 11 NBA championships to the Celtics in his 13-year career.

1. Jerry West, 1969

Even though he's holding the top spot on this list, it's one that Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West would like to just forget about.

It's not that he wasn't brilliant; he was historically prolific. It's just that in the end, even his amazing accomplishment wasn't enough to topple the mighty Boston Celtics (an unfortunate theme to West's career).

West's Hall of Fame career started in the 1960-61 season, when the Lakers finished the year under .500 (36-43) and lost a seven-game series to the St. Louis Hawks in the Western Division Finals. L.A. made it all the way to the NBA Finals the next season but couldn't stop Boston's championship run. The Lakers would make four more finals runs over the next six years, but lost each of their series to the Celtics.

But 1969 was supposed to be L.A.'s year. Led by a Hall of Fame trio of West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers raced to a 55-27 record then carried an 8-3 mark through the Western Division playoffs. The aging Celtics, meanwhile, posted only the fourth-best record in the East (48-34) before recovering to make one last finals run in Russell's last year.

The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 series lead on their home floor then, after two losses in Boston, regained control of the series with a win in Game 5. The Celtics took Game 6 back in Boston, pushing the series back to L.A. for a decisive Game 7.

West did everything in his power to win that game. He poured in 42 points, snagged 13 rebounds and threw out 12 assists, capping a magnificent series in which he averaged just under 38 points per game.

For his effort West was given the Finals MVP award, the first and only time the hardware has been handed out to a player on the losing team.