NBA: Ranking the 10 most important games from the last 10 years

Taking a closer look at the 10 most important games in NBA history over the last 10 years

With no live basketball on right now, it’s a great time to watch older games, and the last decade was responsible for some of the most impactful games in NBA history.

So I took a trip down memory lane this past week and re-watched some of these classic games and tried to rank them based on a few pieces of very subjective criteria in no particular order:

• Since the 2020 season is on hold and hasn’t had a chance to give us any games of real importance, we’re going to use 2010-2019 for our pool of games.
• Memory factor – do you remember this game right away or does it have a “remind me what game that was?” reaction.
•  Legacy factor – this applies to individual players and the overall team. The greatest players and teams are remembered for a handful of games – was this one of them?
• The “what if?” game – What if player x didn’t make that shot? What if player y didn’t get hurt? What if they played with a bowling ball instead of a basketball? Would Steph Curry be selling insurance in North Carolina instead of playing in the NBA?

Now that we have criteria set, let’s take a trip down memory land. We begin with a game that should be fresh in all our minds.