4 Teams Have Won an NBA Finals Game 7 on The Road. Will the Pacers be the 5th?

On Sunday night in Oklahoma, the Indiana Pacers have a chance to accomplish a feat that only four other teams in the history of the NBA have done: Win an NBA Finals Game 7 on the road. 

After winning Game 6 to force a Game 7 in Oklahoma City, the Pacers kept their championship hopes alive. If they go on to win it, not only would they win the first NBA Finals in Indiana Pacers' history, but they join a short list of teams that snatched the trophy out of the hands of an opponent playing in front of their crowd, in the security of their arena. 

Game 7 odds: Thunder -290, Pacers +235
NBA title odds: Thunder -290, Pacers +235

Cleveland Cavaliers (2016)

One of the greatest comebacks in NBA history was capped with a Game 7 win on the road. The Cavaliers trailed the Golden State Warriors three games to one, but were able to pull out victories in Game 5 in The Bay and a Game 6 at home. That set up a winner-take-all showdown in Oracle Arena. Not only had the Warriors achieved the best overall regular-season record, 73-9, but they were 39-2 at home, making it improbable that the Cavaliers would take two in a row from them in front of their crowd. But, the Cavaliers defied the odds and, behind Kyrie Irving's clutch jump shot and LeBron James' chase-down block, beat the Warriors to win Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the road, and celebrated Cleveland's first NBA Championship in front of the fans wearing yellow and royal blue. 

Washington Bullets (1978)

The 38-year gap between teams winning Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the road shows just how difficult of a task it is to complete. Home teams went 7-0 between the Bullets and the Cavaliers' victories and, in that time, the Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards