Rockets' Fred VanVleet repeats Game 6 magic in Golden State in callback to Raptors' 2019 title

Billy Heyen

Rockets' Fred VanVleet repeats Game 6 magic in Golden State in callback to Raptors' 2019 title image

Fred VanVleet's most important game in his NBA career was a Game 6 in Golden State.

Back in 2019, VanVleet was magical off the Toronto Raptors' bench to clinch an NBA championship.

Maybe VanVleet's best-ever game in his NBA career came in Game 6 in Golden State on Friday night.

His performance helped the Rockets force a Game 7 back at home in the first round of the playoffs.

Must be something about that specific stage that really works for VanVleet.

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In the 2019 finals, VanVleet came off the bench to score 22 points, including drilling five 3-pointers. He took the home energy out of the building and took it for the spunky Raptors to use en route to a championship.

This time around, VanVleet was starting and delivered a masterpiece for Houston.

FVV finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He shot a ridiculous 6-for-9 from 3-point range.

Call him Big Game Fred.

Seriously, though, VanVleet has sneakily thrown his name into a lot of big NBA moments.

He's well respected, and he's so talented, and despite being undersized, VanVleet has carved out an incredible NBA career for himself.

And when he retires, he'll really only need two games' worth of highlights, two brilliant Game 6 nights turned to dawn in the Bay Area for the visiting team led by FVV himself.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle