Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics is considered one of the greatest games of all time. Losing meant the journey to the NBA Championship had ended, but both teams were determined to proceed to the next round.
As already etched in history, Larry Bird ‘s Celtics squeezed out the victory at the expense of Dominique Wilkins ‘ Hawks. But despite the heartbreaking defeat, Nique claims that the game was the best game of his career.
A team effort
Wilkins exploded for 47 points that fateful night in 1988. But this wasn’t the sole reason why Game 7 was his favorite game of all time. It was because everyone on the team from both sides contributed. It wasn’t just him and Bird who were on; unsung players also chipped in.
“I think that was probably the best game of my career,” Nique said , per SLAM. “You had two guys who didn’t want to lose on opposite teams, and it was a shootout. Then you have a guy like Kevin McHale, who scored 34, 35 points in the same game, and people don’t talk about that. And we had a lot of guys doing good things in that game, like Randy Wittman, who scored 28 in that game for us.”