After an 82-game season, any NBA player near full health at the start of the playoffs is lucky. By the end of the playoffs, any player near full health is a medical anomaly.
Between the physicality of the playoffs and a taxing regular season, the road to a championship is perennially shaped by injuries. It’s hard to keep a team fully healthy deep into May and June, and stars inevitably go down along the way, adding unpredictable twists and turns throughout the playoffs.
In some cases, players have defied the odds and played through different types of adversity that would sideline most others.
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Here are the seven gutsiest performances in NBA playoff history, from Michael Jordan to Willis Reed.
7. Rajon Rondo returns from dislocated elbow (2011 East semifinals)
Former Celtics guard Rajon Rondo made himself even more of a fan favorite in Boston with a return for the ages in Game 3 of the East semifinals against the Heat in 2011.
After suffering a gruesome dislocated elbow while pursuing a loose ball, Rondo appeared to be done for the night and perhaps done for the foreseeable future. It was an injury that might be tough for some viewers to stomach — yet Rondo still managed to return to the game and help the Celtics finish off a 97-81 win over LeBron James and the Heat.
After the win, Rondo said he wanted to return and let the Celtics’ medical staff go to work. “I can’t say exactly what happened,” Rondo said of the treatment he received. “It was still numb.”
Rondo only scored six points, but he added 11 assists in what would be Boston’s only win of the series against the eventual Eastern Conference champions.
6. Aaron Gordon starts Game 7 despite serious hamstring injury (2025 West semifinals)
Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon found himself at the center of numerous clutch moments throughout the 2025 playoffs before suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain in Game 6 of the West semifinals against the Thunder.
The injury typically costs players at least a month of action — Warriors star Stephen Curry had just missed the final four games of a series against the Timberwolves with a Grade 1 strain, let alone Grade 2 — but Gordon never ruled himself out and started Game 7 against Oklahoma City.
While Gordon visibly had a tough time moving around, he scored eight points in the first half and finished with an unbelievable 11 rebounds in the Nuggets’ loss.
MORE: 13 most devastating playoff injuries in NBA history
5. Isiah Thomas plays through severely sprained ankle (1988 NBA Finals)
The Pistons jumped out to a 3-2 series lead over the Lakers in the 1988 NBA Finals before a severely sprained ankle for Isiah Thomas shifted momentum towards L.A.
Despite being in obvious pain, Thomas played through the injury in the second half of Game 6 and actually dominated the third quarter with 25 points. The Lakers, however, would win by a point and force a Game 7. Thomas continued to play through the pain in Game 7, but he was less effective in a narrow Detroit loss.
The Pistons would get their revenge with back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990, but Thomas’ gutsy effort was one of the most memorable moments from the franchise’s “Bad Boy” run.
4. Isaiah Thomas scores 33 points after sister’s death (2017 East first round)
Former Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas learned that his sister tragically died in a car crash just a day before Boston’s playoff opener against the Bulls in 2017. Thomas not only managed to suit up for the Celtics in Game 1, but he scored 33 points in a losing effort.
Thomas added six rebounds and six assists, posting his most efficient performance of the series at 10-of-18 from the field. The Celtics would go on to win the series with Thomas as their leading scorer.
Thomas wore sneakers that read, “Chyna, RIP Lil Sis,” for Game 1.
After the game, Thomas’ teammate Al Horford praised the point guard for playing through such a tough time. “We knew he was hurting,” Horford told reporters. “We have a lot of respect for him that he was able to come out.”
3. Kevin McHale leads Celtics to Finals on broken foot (1987 NBA playoffs)
Celtics star Kevin McHale was one of a few key players dealing with an injury as Boston pushed through the Eastern Conference all the way to the NBA Finals in 1987, but his injury turned out to be more severe than most knew.
McHale suffered a broken bone in his foot late in the regular season and ignored doctors’ advice, playing through the injury and leading the Celtics to the Finals even as Robert Parish and Bill Walton also dealt with injuries. McHale scored at least 20 points in 16 of his 21 playoff games, powering through two seven-game series to win the East.
While the Celtics lost the Finals to the Lakers in six games, it’s hard to say there is anything more McHale could have done on one good foot. McHale missed the start of the following season after underdoing surgery to repair his foot.
2. Willis Reed plays through injury to lead Knicks to title (1970 NBA Finals)
Knicks legend Willis Reed has become the posterchild for playing through injury for the effort he put together during the 1970 NBA Finals.
After suffering a torn ligament in his thigh during Game 5 and missing Game 6, Reed stunned the Madison Square Garden crowd by coming out for warmups and starting Game 7. He remarkably made the Knicks’ first two baskets of the game, though those four points would be his only scoring production of the game.
The Knicks, undoubtedly energized by Reed’s unlikely return, went on to win Game 7 and capture the franchise’s first championship.
1. Michael Jordan ‘Flu Game’ (1997 NBA Finals)
NBA great Michael Jordan’s 39-point, 11-rebound performance in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, known as the “Flu Game,” is etched in NBA lore, though plenty of theories still surround it.
While Jordan was initially reported to be playing through the flu, some theorize he was hungover. Jordan, meanwhile, tried to set the record straight in 2020, claiming he was battling food poisoning after eating an entire pizza.
I ate the pizza all by myself,” Jordan said in ESPN’s “The Last Dance.” Nobody else eats the pizza. I wake up about 2:30 throwing up left and right. So it really wasn’t the flu game. It was food poisoning.”
While some connected to the Bulls dispute that version of the events, Jordan was clearly fighting off something during the pivotal game in a tied series with the Jazz. He still played like his vintage self, scoring 39 of the Bulls’ 90 points and falling into the arms of teammate Scottie Pippen at the end of the win.
The Bulls would go on to win their fifth championship with a victory in Game 6.
