1988 NBA Finals, Game 6.

Pistons down in the third. Isiah Thomas scores 25 in the fourth quarter despite a few injuries.

Then, with a little more than four minutes to go in the period, Thomas landed on Michael Cooper's foot and had to be helped from the floor.

Despite a severely sprained ankle, Thomas returned 35 seconds later and continued the offensive assault. By the end of the quarter, he had hit 11 of 13 shots from the floor for 25 points, setting an NBA Finals record for points in a quarter. Better yet, he had single-handedly given his team an 81-79 lead.

The Pistons ultimately lost Game 6 to the Lakers, but it was no fault of the battle-weary Thomas. He finished the night with a jammed left pinkie, a poked eye, a scratched face, a ballooned ankle, 43 points, 8 assists, 6 steals, and enough respect to last a lifetime.

A few more:

Willis Reed has a torn thigh muscle in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals. No one thinks he'll play. Takes an injection to dull the pain and comes out onto court to boost the team. Scores the first couple of baskets and Frazier is inspired to a 36 point and 19 assist game as the Knicks win. More

1965, Baylor blows out his knee in Game 1 of the Western Finals. Jerry West carries the team in the series, scoring 49, then 52, 44, 48, 43, 42 - an average of 46.3 PPG for the series. Next best series average in Playoffs history is Jordan's 45.2 PPG over five games in 1988. More

Or the classic Magic story. Kareem sprains his ankle in Game 5 against Dr J's 76ers, and stays home for Game 6. Magic Johnson boards the plane and takes Kareem's usual front-row seat and says to the team "Never fear, EJ is here!" Taking the opening tip, he plays every position on the court during the game and finishes with 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists for a solid win - in his rookie year. More

anonymous - go to www.pontel.com, that's where I got it from. For about $22 you can have a DVD delivered to your door of basically any NBA game since the 70s. I made that one the first of my collection last month for obvious reasons. Be patient on the delivery, mine took about 2 and a half weeks
Isaac, I do remember that Isiah game actually, but haven't seen bugger all of it. Apparently his ankle was really bad and he had a noticeable heavy limp. Quite extraordinary really

Wilt Chamberlain playing with 2 broken hands in the 1972 grand final to win the finals MVP

Too easy...

Ron Artest trying to clock some skinny little geek (the wrong one - totally)in the stands at the Palace...

The poor guy's face said it all - ("Oh WOW!!! - Ron Ron is REALLY P###ED!!!, this is gonna be fun to watch... i pity the fool...") (the guy is so excited he's jumping up and down like a tiny tot - he stops pretty soon after - smile dissapates - jumping stops as sphinchter does it's thing...)...

Nothing compares to U Ron... Good to see Jax is keeping your eternal flame burning in Indy!!!

Isiah's performance was outstanding!

Huh, I only watched that Isiah game on the weekend after downloading it from the net a while ago. Interesting as I thought it was 25 points in the 4th, but he actually scored the 25 points in the 3rd quarter and also sprained his ankle in that quarter.

His is severely limping when he continues to play and on one play after making a score and finishing off balance, he's hopping on 1 leg into the crowd while he regains balance!! Huge effort he put in that game. If he was fit enough, Pistons would have won Game 7 and the title over the Lakers. Without him being 100% in G7, Lakers went back to back.

One of my other favourite "heroic" moments was the 1994 Conference Finals game Indiana v NYK where Reggie scores 25 in the final quarter and taunts Spike Lee with choking signals and all....awesome!!

The Ultimate Jordan DVD Collection has MJ's greatest games in full, pluss all of the Jordan videos from the 90's remastered. Has the flu game, the 69 points VS Boston, 55 V Knicks wearing #45 amongst others. Need a multi-region DVD player. Another good one is the Chicago Bulls Dynasty series - has all of the championship season review DVD's, plus a game from each Finals series. Best game is VS Portland where Jordan hits 6 threes in the first half. Another highlight is a young Cliff Robinson and Jerome Kersey throwing down some nasty dunks.