Game 7. Those two words alone are enough to send a chill down the spine of sports fans. It marks the epitome of the playoffs, a series that comes down to an all-or-nothing game. There are few things better in the game of basketball than a postseason battle resulting in one final opportunity. The anticipation is high and more often than not, the game delivers.
The Los Angeles Lakers have played in 24 Game 7s throughout the years and have racked up 17 NBA Championships. There’s something extra special about donning the purple and gold during the playoffs. The Lakers have a rich history, dating back to the organization making the move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles prior to the start of the 1960-61 season.
No player for the Los Angeles Lakers has won more than five championships with the team.
Kobe Bryant is the most recent player to be tied with numerous other names for that accolade. Jerry West and Elgin Baylor are tied, having each played nine Game 7s throughout their careers to lead the Lakers in that statistic.
Every playoff series doesn’t result in a Game 7, but the most exhilarating ones do. To celebrate the start of the 2021-22 regular season, I decided to rank the organization’s top individual Game 7 performances. I didn’t limit it to only NBA Finals Game 7s, either.
The list isn’t ranked merely by the highest number of points scored or any other statistic, but instead by some of the top, most impactful showings. I also wanted to be sure to include the players that came before my time. There’s only one Laker that’s on the list who was part of a losing effort (you’re probably already thinking of his name in your head). All of the other nine players came out with a win, which was a deciding factor.
Each of the 10 players that are on the list were only included once, or else the rankings would’ve gotten to be too repetitive. I used Stathead and StatMuse to put together both the Game 7 statistics and playoff statistics. Let’s go ahead and get into the lineup.
Here’s the top-10 individual Game 7 performances in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers organization, from my perspective.