The past year alone has had some stellar championship sports games. <\/p>\n
The Olympics featured some amazing gold-medal hockey games; both college football and college basketball had close championship games; the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals both went to a decisive seventh game. Sports fans have been spoiled.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what makes ranking the best championship sports games a challenge like no other. So many games throughout history have been high-stakes, competitive thrillers. But that same reason makes ranking these classics so much fun.<\/p>\n
To find the 10 best in recent memory, the cut-off is 2010. The games don\u2019t have to be decisive, winner-take-all games. Any championship series game counts. However, conference championships at either the pro or college levels do not count.<\/p>\n
To rank these historic battles, consider the bigger picture of each game, including stakes, pressure, storylines, shock value, and how close a team comes to losing everything, among other factors. <\/p>\n
To begin, it\u2019s time to look at which championship games were fantastic but didn\u2019t make the cut (in no particular order).<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
-Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots def. Seattle Seahawks 28-24<\/p>\n
-2016 World Series Game 7: Chicago Cubs def. Cleveland Indians 8-7 (10 Innings)<\/p>\n
-2026 Olympic Women\u2019s Hockey Gold Medal: USA def. Canada 2-1 (OT)<\/p>\n
-2018 Olympic Women\u2019s Hockey Gold Medal: USA def. Canada 3-2 (SO)<\/p>\n
-2014 Olympic Women\u2019s Hockey Gold Medal: Canada def. USA 3-2 (OT)<\/p>\n
-2016 Olympic Men\u2019s Soccer Gold Medal: Brazil def. Germany 1-1 (5-4 SO)<\/p>\n
-2017 CFP National Championship: Clemson def. Alabama 35-31<\/p>\n
-2016 CFP National Championship: Alabama def. Clemson 45-40<\/p>\n
-2010 Stanley Cup Finals Game 6: Chicago Blackhawks def. Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 (OT)<\/p>\n
-2017 World Series Game 5: Houston Astros def. LA Dodgers 13-12 (10 Innings)<\/p>\n
-2013 Stanley Cup Finals Game 6: Chicago Blackhawks def. Boston Bruins 3-2<\/p>\n
-2016 WNBA Finals Game 5: LA Sparks def. Minnesota Lynx 77-76<\/p>\n
-2023 World Baseball Classic Final: Japan def. USA 3-2<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention: 2024 WNBA Finals Game 5: New York Liberty def. Minnesota Lynx 67-62 (OT)<\/p>\n
It was nearly impossible not to put this game into the top 10, especially seeing all three Liberty games in person. New York hadn\u2019t seen a professional basketball championship since the 1970s<\/a>, so the magnitude of this game was certainly there.<\/p>\n In addition, the Lynx were certainly the more consistent team in that series. The Liberty were the powerhouse team, but star guard Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> severely struggled<\/a> in the playoffs that year, shooting <\/a>29.6% from the field and 24.3% from deep.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The series was extremely competitive, with Game 2 the only game<\/a> in which regulation ended with a point differential of more than 3. It was only fitting that the last game went to overtime. Even more poetic was how the game got to overtime. <\/p>\n In Game 1, the Liberty had blown a lead, but Breanna Stewart<\/a> had a chance<\/a> to hit two free throws with 0.8 seconds left to take the lead back. She missed one, and the Lynx won in overtime.<\/p>\n In Game 5, Stewie went back to the line with 5.2 seconds left. This time, she had to hit both free throws to send it to OT. She redeemed herself<\/a>, and the Liberty won in OT. This game was not just poetic. It was storytelling at its finest.<\/p>\n The Barclays Center was louder than it ever was for a Brooklyn Nets game that whole series. Ellie the Elephant, the Liberty mascot and arguably the best mascot in sports, had the crowd going all night long. This game didn\u2019t make the top 10, but that shouldn\u2019t take anything away from it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 10. 2016 NBA Finals Game 7: Cleveland Cavaliers def. Golden State Warriors 93-89<\/p>\n Nobody thought the Cleveland Cavaliers could do it. Northeast Ohio was in the midst of a 52-year championship drought. LeBron James<\/a> changed that with his heroics in the 2016 NBA Finals. He led the series<\/a> in all five major statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. He is the only player<\/a> ever to do that in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n The Golden State Warriors were coming off a 73-9 regular season, the best in NBA history, and a record that stands to this day. They led the series 3-1 after Game 4, and no team<\/a> had ever successfully pulled a 3-1 comeback in the NBA Finals until this game.<\/p>\n Game 7 would be in Oakland at Oracle Arena, the Warriors\u2019 home arena and the NBA\u2019s loudest<\/a>. This further stacked the odds against the Cavs, as they failed to win a road game all series when Draymond Green<\/a> was playing.<\/p>\n How the Cavs Pulled it Off<\/p>\n The Cavs trailed 49-42 at the half, but J.R. Smith<\/a> scored eight points for the Cavs in the first few minutes of the second half, a run that brought the Cavs right back into the game. Late in the game, the game was locked in a stalemate for a few minutes at 89 apiece. With under two minutes remaining, LeBron kept the stalemate going with his famous chase-down block on Andre Iguodala<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The stalemate was only broken with 53 seconds left when Kyrie Irving<\/a> hit \u201cThe Shot\u201d over Stephen Curry<\/a> to give the Cavs a 92-89 lead. Still, the game wasn\u2019t over. Kevin Love<\/a> played the best defense of his life to stop Curry from hitting a three to tie the game, and the Cavs eventually sealed the deal. Game 7 in 2016 topped off what is largely regarded as the best NBA Finals in history.<\/p>\n 9. 2026 Olympic Men\u2019s Hockey Gold Medal: USA def. Canada 2-1 (OT)<\/p>\n The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off tournament pushed the USA vs. Canada hockey rivalry to a new high. The first matchup featured three fights to start, with many more throughout. The USA won, 3-1. The two teams faced off again in the championship game. This time, Canada won in overtime, 3-2, in a once-again physical game.<\/p>\n The Olympics couldn\u2019t be as physical because, unfortunately, they banned fighting<\/a>. However, the hatred between the two teams was ever-present. They would only face off once this year. As many predicted, it would be for gold.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The social media trash talk between fans reached a fever pitch. The championship game had everyone in North America getting up early. The game began at 8:10 AM on the East Coast and 5:10 AM on the West Coast. New York allowed bars to open early<\/a> for the game.<\/p>\n For Canada, the game was an opportunity to continue asserting dominance in its primary sport. They had possibly the best team<\/a> ever assembled on paper. <\/p>\n For the USA, it was a chance to step out from Canada\u2019s shadow in a sport where Canada has historically<\/a> always beaten America. It was time to slay Goliath. The tension stemming from Canadian fans booing<\/a> the American anthem last year was the icing on an already overflowing cake.<\/p>\n Goliath Falls<\/p>\n Matt Boldy<\/a> scored the USA\u2019s first goal in the first period on a one-on-two, impressively splitting the Canadians\u2019 top defensive pair, Devon Toews<\/a> and Cale Makar<\/a>. <\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But things went downhill for the USA for the rest of the regulation. Team USA couldn\u2019t catch a break. Getting the puck out of their own zone without icing the puck was considered a success. Their only hope was to hold onto the lead for dear life. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0heroics kept them in the game, but when Cale Makar scored for Canada in the second period, it felt hopeless for the USA.<\/p>\n The third period was more of the same. Canada was doing anything they wanted except putting the puck past the last line of defense. Hellebuyck recorded amazing saves against Devon Toews and Macklin Celebrini<\/a>. Charlie McAvoy<\/a> helped out with a big-time save, and Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> missed a wide-open net, becoming the subject of internet memes.<\/p>\n Just when the USA seemed to have hope after Jack Hughes<\/a> drew a high-sticking penalty and chipped his teeth<\/a>, he committed one himself on the power play. Poetically, the game went to overtime, and Hughes nailed the game-winner that many took a second to realize went in. The celebration was nationwide, and this celebration says it all:<\/p>\n The post What Are the Top 10 Championship Games Since 2010? Part 1<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past year alone has had some stellar championship sports games. The Olympics featured some amazing gold-medal hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[2994,7,16245,5441,247,8736,4821,306,86040,82858,17986,440,305,193,3846,65240,68430,200,164,3711,83369,1678,967,22875,10095,185,60948,86041,10983,8737,6,1220,6547,3801,6526,6209,9722,573],"class_list":["post-675072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-2016-nba-finals","tag-basketball","tag-boston-bruins","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-cale-makar","tag-canada","tag-cavaliers","tag-cfp-national-championship","tag-charlie-mcavoy","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-clevelandcavaliers","tag-connor-hellebuyck","tag-devon-toews","tag-draymond-green","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-houston-astros","tag-jack-hughes","tag-kevin-love","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-la-dodgers","tag-la-sparks","tag-lebron-james","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-matt-boldy","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-stephen-curry"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}