The Cavs and Pistons have both gone the distance two series in a row to get a right to go to the Eastern Conference Finals. I was curious what sort of impact having back to back 7 game series has had on teams in the past. Here's a list of all 32 teams that has had to go the distance twice in a row and their eventual fate.

1960 St. Louis Hawks

• Western Division Finals: 4-3 victory over Minneapolis Lakers
• NBA Finals: 3-4 loss to the Boston Celtics in Boston
• The Hawks received a bye to get around the Division Semifinals as the 1 seed
• The Hawks played Game 7 against the Lakers on March 26, 1960 in St. Louis, then the Finals started on March 27th in Boston. Expectedly, the Hawks got blown out 140-122.

1962 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Division Finals: 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Warriors
• NBA Finals: 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers
• The Celtics received a bye to get around the Division Semifinals as the 1 seed
• Bill Russell doesn't lose Game 7s

1966 Los Angeles Lakers

• Western Division Finals: 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Hawks
• NBA Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Boston Celtics
• The Lakers received a bye to get around the Division Semifinals as the 1 seed
• The Celtics finished their Division Finals on April 12th, the Lakers on April 15th. The Finals began on April 17th in Boston with the Lakers pulling off the victory.
• Bill Russell doesn't lose Game 7s

1971 Baltimore Bullets

• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the 76ers in Baltimore
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over the defending champion New York Knicks in NY (Knicks had knocked them out of the postseason two years in a row before that)
• NBA Finals: Swept 0-4 by the Milwaukee Bucks

1979 San Antonio Spurs

• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Sixers at home
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to the reigning champion Washington Bullets in Maryland; final score 107-105

1979 Washington Bullets

• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Atlanta Hawks
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over San Antonio Spurs
• NBA Finals: 1-4 defeat to Seattle SuperSonics who complete the revenge story of the previous Finals
• Sonics also needed Game 7 to make the Finals (one day more rest than Washington), but completed their first round matchup in 5

1981 Philadelphia 76ers

• Eastern Conference First Round: 2-0 victory over Indiana Pacers
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Boston Celtics
• Celtics had a bye in the first round as the 1 seed and a 4-0 sweep of the Bulls in the 2nd round, having not played since April 12th. Sixers swept the first round 2-0, then the second round went to April 19th with the Celtics series starting on April 21st. Philly however would go on to steal Game 1 on the road in Boston 105-104. Series ended with Philly blowing a 3-1 lead.
• Nothing to do with the topic, I just feel obligated to include the scores of this series. 105-104 Philly, 118-99 Boston, 110-100 Philly, 107-105 Philly, 111-108 Boston, 100-98 Boston, 91-90 Boston. Boston went on to win the championship over Houston. Brutal.

1987 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 3-0 victory over Chicago Bulls
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Bucks
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over the Pistons
• NBA Finals: 2-4 loss to the Lakers
• The Lakers swept the Nuggets in the first round 3-0, stomped the Warriors in the Semis 4-1, and swept the Sonics 4-0 in the WCF. Other than a 3-0 sweep of the Bulls in round 1, the Celtics had to go the distance.
• Celtics finished their ECF on May 30th. Lakers finished their WCF on May 25th. Finals started June 2nd with a Lakers win.

1988 Los Angeles Lakers

• Western Conference First Round: 3-0 win over Spurs
• Western Conference Semifinals: 4-3 win over Jazz
• Western Conference Finals: 4-3 win over Mavericks
• NBA Finals: 4-3 win over the Pistons
• First team with 3 consecutive 7 game series wins. Went the distance to complete back to back titles.

1993 Seattle SuperSonics

• Western Conference First Round: 3-2 victory over Jazz
• Western Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Rockets
• Western Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Suns
• Every series went the distance for the 93 Sonics who could not hold on to beat Phoenix.

1994 New York Knicks

• Eastern Conference First Round: 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Nets
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Chicago Bulls
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over the Indiana Pacers
• NBA Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Houston Rockets
• One game against the Nets away from having to go the entire distance. Nets avoided the sweep with a 93-92 Game 3 victory in New Jersey. Knicks failed to complete the 3 consecutive Game 7 victories of the 87 Lakers.
• On the other side: Rockets 3-1 victory over Portland, Rockets 4-3 victory over Phoenix, Rockets 4-1 victory over Jazz. Rockets finished business on May 31st, Knicks finished a grueling Pacers series on June 5th. Finals started June 8th in Houston.

1995 Indiana Pacers

• Eastern Conference First Round: 3-0 victory over Hawks
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Knicks
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to Orlando
• Pacers gave it their best shot with a 123-96 Game 6 victory at home to tie the series, but got destroyed in Game 7 in Orlando 105-81.

2001 Milwaukee Bucks

• Eastern Conference First Round: 3-1 victory over the Orlando Magic
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Charlotte Hornets
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers
• Lost Game 7 in Philly 108-91

2001 Philadelphia 76ers

• Eastern Conference First Round: 3-1 victory over Indiana Pacers
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Toronto Raptors
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over Milwaukee Bucks
• NBA Finals: 1-4 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers
• Sixers had nothing for the Lakers who swept all three of their series in the conference

2003 Dallas Mavericks

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over the Blazers
• Western Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over the Kings
• Western Conference Finals: 2-4 loss to the Spurs
• The Spurs won every single series this playoffs 4-2, including the Finals over the Nets.

2005 Detroit Pistons

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-1 victory over Sixers
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-2 victory over Pacers
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over Heat
• NBA Finals: 3-4 defeat to Spurs
• Spurs wrapped up the WCF on June 1st in 5 games while the Pistons ended their ECF on June 6th. Finals started June 9th with a 84-69 San Antonio win.

2006 Phoenix Suns

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Lakers (3-1 comeback)
• Western Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Clippers
• Western Conference Finals: 2-4 defeat to the Mavericks
• Mavericks swept their first round against the Grizzlies but also needed 7 to get out of the second round vs San Antonio in their iconic matchup of the two best records in the West not being on opposite sides of the bracket thanks to divisions.

2008 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Atlanta Hawks
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Cleveland Cavaliers
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-2 victory over Detroit Pistons
• NBA Finals: 4-2 victory over Los Angeles Lakers
• After being brought to Game 7 by a Hawks team that probably never should have had a chance, the Celtics found their grit and blew them out of the water in Game 7 carrying that momentum all the way through to a championship

2009 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Chicago Bulls
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 3-4 defeat to Orlando Magic
• With no Garnett for the entire postseason the Celtics were unable to string together a deep run for a chance at a repeat

2012 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-2 victory over Atlanta Hawks
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Philadelphia 76ers
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 defeat to Miami Heat
• The 76ers managed to upset the 1 seeded Chicago Bulls after Derrick Rose tore his ACL in Game 1 of the first round, but they still managed to give the Celtics everything they could handle.
• On the other side of the bracket, the Heat managed to go 4-1 with the Knicks in Round 1 and 4-2 with the Pacers in Round 2. You know what Lebron did in Game 6 of this ECF. In Game 7 with the score only being a 1 point deficit, the Celtics only managed to score 6 points in the final 8 minutes as the Heat ran away with the series.

2013 Miami Heat

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-0 victory over Bucks
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-1 victory over Chicago Bulls
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over Indiana Pacers
• NBA Finals: 4-3 victory over San Antonio Spurs
• The Spurs demolished their competition on the other side of the bracket. 4-0 sweep of the Lakers in Round 1, 4-2 win over the Warriors in the 2nd round, and then another 4-0 sweep over the Grizzlies in the WCF. They finished their series on May 27th to the Heat finishing on June 3rd with the Finals starting June 6th. Despite stealing Game 1 on the road though, Ray Allen eventually happened.

2015 Los Angeles Clippers

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over the Spurs
• Western Conference Semifinals: 3-4 defeat to the Houston Rockets
• The Clippers gritted out a gutsy Game 7 win over the defending champion Spurs in the first round, led by a game winner from Chris Paul. They also managed to go up 3-1 over the higher seeded Houston Rockets in the next round despite CP3 missing the first two games. They didn't win.

2016 Golden State Warriors

• Western Conference First Round: 4-1 victory over Houston Rockets
• Western Conference Semifinals: 4-1 victory over Portland Trail Blazers
• Western Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder
• NBA Finals: 3-4 defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Warriors pushed for the all time win record in the regular season of 73-9. Go down 3-1 to the Thunder but come back to win. Go up 3-1 to the Cavaliers but blow it to lose. And nothing else happened based on the results of this postseason.

2016 Miami Heat

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Charlotte Hornets
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 3-4 defeat to Toronto Raptors
• The Heat could not carry the momentum of demolishing the Hornets in Game 7 106-73 into another series win, but they did give the Raptors as much as they could handle

2016 Toronto Raptors

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Indiana Pacers
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Miami Heat
• Eastern Conference Finals: 2-4 defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers
• The Cavaliers managed to sweep both their first and second round opponents in the Pistons and Hawks, coming into the ECF with 9 days rest while the Raptors had to turn around 2 days later to play in Cleveland. Expectedly, the Raptors lost big in Game 1 with a 115-84 final score.

2019 Denver Nuggets

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Spurs
• Western Conference Semifinals: 3-4 defeat to the Trail Blazers
• Not only did the Nuggets have back to back 7 game series, but this series also included the iconic quadruple overtime game in Game 3 that the Blazers managed to win. Jokic played 65 minutes, playing all 24 minutes of the second half, all 5 minutes of OT1, OT2, and OT3, only coming out for 1 second in OT4 with 3 seconds left for an offense/defense switch. Did the extra 6 days of rest for Portland make the difference in this series? Who knows.

2020 Denver Nuggets

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over the Jazz (3-1 comeback)
• Western Conference Second Round: 4-3 victory over the Clippers (3-1 comeback)
• Western Conference Finals: 1-4 defeat to the Lakers
• No travel or homecourt advantage in this series with it being in the bubble during Covid. The Lakers did manage to finish both of their first two series with 4-1 defeats though.

2022 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-0 victory over Brooklyn Nets
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Milwaukee Bucks
• Eastern Conference Finals: 4-3 victory over Miami Heat
• NBA Finals: 2-4 defeat to Golden State Warriors
• The Warriors finished their previous series in 5, 6 and 5. They wrapped up the WCF on May 26th compared to the Celtics on May 29th with the Finals starting June 2nd, with Boston winning 120-108.

2023 Boston Celtics

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-2 victory over Atlanta Hawks
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: 4-3 victory over Philadelphia 76ers
• Eastern Conference Finals: 3-4 loss to Miami Heat
• Heat finished the first round in 5 games and the second in 6 games giving them an extra 2 days of rest over Boston.

2025 Denver Nuggets

• Western Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Clippers
• Western Conference Semifinals: 3-4 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder
• Despite some magical clutch shots, the Nuggets were unable to overcome injuries to grit out a win over the eventual champion Thunder who clawed back from down 2-1 on the road.

2026 Cleveland Cavaliers

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Toronto Raptors
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: TBD

2026 Detroit Pistons

• Eastern Conference First Round: 4-3 victory over Orlando Magic (3-1 comeback)
• Eastern Conference Semifinals: TBD

TL;DR

Teams that went the distance twice in a row and still won the championship (~12.5% success rate):

• 1962 Boston Celtics
• 1988 Los Angeles Lakers
• 2008 Boston Celtics
• 2013 Miami Heat

Teams that went the distance twice before the NBA Finals and still made it to the Finals (~25% success rate):

• 1971 Baltimore Bullets (0-4 defeat)
• 1979 Washington Bullets (1-4 defeat)
• 1987 Boston Celtics (2-4 defeat)
• 1988 Los Angeles Lakers (Champions)
• 1994 New York Knicks (3-4 defeat)
• 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (1-4 defeat)
• 2008 Boston Celtics (Champions)
• 2022 Boston Celtics (2-4 defeat)

Source: Basketball Reference and Wikipedia page of NBA Game Sevens