NBA Finals History: The 10 Best NBA Finals series of all time

#4 1988 - Lakers beat the Pistons 4-3

1988 NBA Finals: Detroit Pistons v Los Angeles Lakers

This series pitted the 2 greatest point guards of the world against each other - Magic Johnson for the Lakers and Isiah Thomas for the Pistons. The Lakers finished with a 62-20 record in the regular season, a mark better than the Pistons' 54-28 record. The homecourt advantage proved pivotal for the Lakers in the Finals, which were then played in a 2-3-2 format (home-road-home for the team with homecourt).

The Pistons started the series with a rousing 105-93 win at the Great Western Forum, with Adrian Dantley leading both teams in scoring with 34 points. The Lakers did win their next home game 108-96, and they used this momentum to steal homecourt advantage back from the Pistons in a 99-86 Game 3 win.

The Pistons blew the Lakers out of the Palace with a 111-86 win in Game 4, before securing a 3-2 advantage in their final home game with a 104-94 win. But disaster struck in the form of injury to Isiah Thomas in Game 6, which ruled him out for Game 7 as well.

However, in possibly the greatest display by an NBA player after a serious injury, Thomas went ballistic in the third quarter, dropping a Finals-record 25 points in the period while playing through a busted ankle. The Lakers took the game with a really close 103-102 win despite Thomas' 43 point, 8 assist, 6 steal performance.

James Worthy produced the best game of his life in Game 7, tallying 36 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals to guide the Lakers to a 108-105 win. He won the Finals MVP award largely for his display in this game.