I've heard plenty of comentators say that the Celtics V Suns Finals game in 78? Was the greatest game ever played.

But for me it was (for cheezey) The playoff game between Larry Birds Celtics and Dom Wilkins Hawkers (late 80's).

Those two players I remember went balistic in the second half of the game with (i think) Bird finishing with 39 and Wilkins finishing with 44.

Correct me if im a little off cheezeburger.

As far as I'm aware that is correct Kriss. You have no disagreement from me that game was phenomenal!!

Correction Kriss. It was 1976, not 1978. Link follows below for those not born until the 1980s:

http://www.nba.com/suns/history/greatestgame_azcentral.html

Kriss I have that entire game on video.

No you can't have it!

Up until the last quarter Larry was having a stinker of a game but had I think 19 in the last quarter including some crazy lefty hooks..... Nique with some crazy one handed turnaround bankers....Over the last 6 minutes it was Nique and Larry in a duel - in a game seven. Gotta love that.

Randy Wiitman the 2 guard for the Hawks was 9/9 from the floor in the first half. There were plenty of highlights tho'.

Larry after the game six loss "guaranteed" a victory - which was widely reported in the papers and T.V. His last quarter was awesome.

Hmmmmmm might watch it again when I get home.

to right kriss.bird had 20 4th quater points to kill the hawks off.great game it was.two of the champions of the nba going shot for shot.

"It was like two gunfighters waiting to blink," recalled Celtics forward Kevin McHale. "There was one stretch that was as pure a form of basketball as you're ever going to see."

The game was tied 86-86 with 10:26 to play when the teams' respective stars took over. "They each put their team on their back and said, `Let's go,'" said Hawks Coach Mike Fratello.

Bird fired the first shot, a jumper with 10:03 to play, and went on to score nine points in a span of 1:58. But Atlanta stayed close and drew even again at 99-99 on a basket by Wilkins with 5:57 left.

Bird scored 11 points after that, including the go-ahead basket with 3:34 to play and a stunning three-pointer over Wilkins with 1:43 left. Wilkins matched Bird's 11 points during that stretch, but it was not enough. With his team down by two points with one second left, Wilkins intentionally missed the second of two free throws, but Boston's Robert Parish tipped the rebound to teammate Dennis Johnson as the buzzer sounded and the Celtics had a 118-116 victory.

Wilkins ended up with a game-high 47 points, shooting a brilliant 19-for-23 from the floor. But it was the Celtics who were left standing at the end thanks to Bird, who finished with 34 points on 15-for-24 from the field, 20 of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

"He wanted it," said Don Chaney, an assistant coach with the Hawks at the time but a former teammate of Bird's. "He wanted the ball and he came through. That's what superstars are made of."

19 from 23? That's like 82%!

thats right eastern lowland.

You guys are all crazy. The '76 Suns Celtics game was and always will be the most exciting basketball game ever played. In fact, the final 19 seconds of the historic second overtime IS the most exciting sequence in the history of professional sports...PERIOD!

No it wasn't Kenny!

How about the highest scoring game in NBA history, Detroits 186-184 triple OT win, has to rank up there?

cheezeburger must have copied and pasted that post... it was actually easy to read and free of basic spelling errors!!!

Yeah, I know about that game..but there was a heck of lot more at stake here. Were talking about game 5 of the NBA finals with the series tied at 2 games apiece, as opposed to game 62 or whatever it was during the 1983? regular season. Also, the multitude of subplots during that '76 game is mind boggling.