An Epic Game 7 Showdown Between A Couple Of MVPs Is Exactly What Makes The NBA Playoffs So Awesome

AAron Ontiveroz. Getty Images.

It's another big time sports Sunday today with the final round of the PGA Championship, a Game 7 in the NHL playoffs between FLA/TOR, regular season baseball if that's your thing, and of course, the big time Game 7/MVP showdown between the Thunder and Nuggets which personally, I cannot wait for

Given the fact that the NBA hasn't officially announced the regular season MVP yet, I say they hang the trophy over midcourt and both Jokic and SGA agree that whoever comes out victorious today should be awarded the MVP. Why not? Sure, it's a regular season award, but I can't imagine anyone would disagree with this revolutionary idea. Why not add more spice to this epic Game 7? Given how this series has gone so far, it feels like the perfect way to finish it off. You're not just playing for a spot in the WCF with a great chance to win the whole thing, but also the MVP trophy. Adam Silver fumbled that one, in my opinion.

In these win or go home games where anything can happen, you never really know what to expect. Logic tells you that OKC returning home should give them the edge given they've been the best team all season and were historic in pretty much every area. The problem is that Nikola Jokic exists, and when the BITW is on the court, you can never count his team out. These games usually come down to which side can have a surprise performance from someone, and while role players tend to play better at home, you never know who that guy might end up being. In Game 6, it was Julian Strawther for the Nuggets who came alive in the 4th quarter and helped the Nuggets fend off elimination. Today, I imagine Thunder fans are hoping someone on their side can have that same type of performance.

We also can't ignore the massive news that came out from Shams this morning, and it's not good, depending on who you're rooting for today

As someone with no real rooting interest in this game and is just hoping for an awesome Game 7, this news STINKS. You knew right away at the end of Game 6 when they showed Gordon grabbing at the back of his hammy that he tweaked something, and whenever a player grabs the back of his leg like that, it's almost never the best-case scenario. 

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The fact that this came in the final minutes of a game the Nuggets were comfortably winning is such a gut punch and a pretty fucked up move by the Basketball Gods if you ask me.

A cooked hamstring is not something you can play through or rush back from, even if you wanted to. Just ask James Harden how that goes if you try and play on a Grade 2 strain. The only thing you can do is rest, and unfortunately, it came at the worst possible time.

You could make the case that outside of Jokic, Aaron Gordon has been the best and most important Nugget this entire playoff run. His clutch play, his outside shooting, the rebounding and physicality, he's been a HUGE part of this Nuggets postseason run, so to see him get hurt right at the end of Game 6 and now have that cost him Game 7 (and potentially beyond) is such a bummer. This is why the journey up the mountain is so damn hard. You need luck above all else, and as we've seen with Steph, Dame, Tatum, LeBron, and now Gordon, injuries go a long way in determining the outcome of these playoff series. It sucks, you wish it wasn't that way, but that's reality.

If you're someone who puts stock into NBA history, the Thunder are the last 40/20 team remaining in the playoff field now that the Cavs and Celts (sigh) are out, so as a Thunder fan that has to give you some level of confidence. As a reminder, basically 45 of the last 47 champs or some shit were a 40/20 team that won their 40th game before their 20th loss. Some people reject that trend/theory, but I tend to think it's people whose teams didn't accomplish it who don't believe in it. Now with this Gordon injury, the fact that OKC is at home for a Game 7, it does feel like this is now inevitable.

But don't worry Nuggets fans, I have some copium for you as well heading into this Game 7. In recent NBA history, having a Game 7 in your own building isn't quite the lock it once was. The following road teams all won a Game 7, so it's not out of the realm of possibility

- 2021 Bucks

- 2021 Hawks

- 2022 Celtics

- 2023 Warriors

- 2023 Heat (sigh)

- 2024 Pacers

- 2024 Wolves

- 2025 Warriors

If I were a Nuggets fan, I would choose to ignore everything that happened before 2021 and solely focus on that group of teams, because again, you have Nikola Jokic.

Either way, I'm just hoping for another classic. Pretty much every game between these two teams has been awesome in this series, and I think as fans we deserve another slugfest. There's nothing more stressful as a fan of the teams participating in a Game 7, but for the rest of us, there's nothing better. You could make the case that whoever wins this game tonight has a great chance to win the whole thing, so the stakes are pretty damn high. Good luck!