Lakers News and Commentary

Most Exciting Endings of All Time?

There have been a gaggle of professional basketball games played over the years, so it's not surprising that there have been some amazing endings to games.  Last night, Tracey McGrady provided such an ending, helping the struggling Rockets overcome the Spurs.

The Spurs were up by 7 with under a minute left, but lost it thanks to a barrage of 3s by T-Mac.  McGrady started his spree with a four-point play, getting fouled by Duncan and hitting the three.  Rockets down by 3.  The Spurs score, so Rockets down by 5, now.  Perfect time for T-Mac to launch up another three, which swishes in, Rockets down by 2.  Spurs call timeout and advance it to half court.  They inbound, but the ball is lost, T-Mac comes running down the court and heaves up a three with two guys in his grill - swish!  Rockets win by 1, 81-80.  Insane. 

Quite an exciting ending last night, but where does it rank on the All-Time List of Exciting Endings?  Clearly it can't be ranked too high, since this was just a regular season game.  No, for a game to make the All-Time list the ending would not only need to be exciting, but also be a game that means something.  And also have an effect past the game (such as Fisher's 0.4 second shot that sucked the life force out of the Spurs for that series).  Without giving it too much thought, here's my list of All-Time Most Exciting Endings for NBA games (and, yes, it's biased to the Bulls and Lakers, because those are the teams I've followed over the years):

1. Jodan's Second to Last Shot, Steal from Karl Malone, and Final Shot (Game 6, 1998 Finals) - this will, likely, be the #1 exciting ending for me, personally, because I was watching that game with five die-hard Jazz fans.  The Bulls had struggled with the Pacers in the ECF, going to 7 games, and the word was that they were too tired to beat the Jazz.  The Jazz took their Finals loss last year, but '98 was supposed to be time for the Jazz.
   
   Going into Game 6, the Bulls has a 3-2 lead, but had lost the last game.  And Game 6 (as well as Game 7) were to be played in Utah.  These Jazz fans I was watching the game with started talking real smack as the Jazz lead throughout most of the game.  Late in the game, just before this sequence, one friend said, “Looks like we're going to a Game 7, and the Bulls look too tired to win that one.  No Three-Peat this time.“  Perhaps that single line jinxed the Jazz, because following that Jordan came down the court and hit that running layup.  This is when I stood up... HERE WE GO.  Down on D, Jordan runs past Malone, only to pop back and strip the ball.  THERE'S NOT GONNA BE A GAME 7, FOOLS!  Jordan, comes down the court, and pops a shot (after giving Russell a slight shove) - swish!  (Man, why did Jordan have to come back, that memory was the perfect ending to his career for me......)
2. Fisher's Three to Beat San Antonio (Game 5, 2004 WCSF) - 0.4 seconds, need I say more?  What made that especially exciting was the fact that the Lakers had a sound lead going into the 4th - which they squandered - and Duncan hit that impossible shot over Shaq from the top of the key to put the Spurs up by 1 with 0.4 second.  And then my man, D-Fish, hits that crazy shot with less than half a second.  Wild.  Not only was this an exciting finish in its own right, but it managed to also take the wind out of the Spurs' sails, allowing the Lakers to advance to the WCFs and, eventually, the Finals.
3. Horry's Three-Ball to Beat the Kings (Game 4, 2002 WCF) - I think last second threes where the guy gets to setup are probably more exciting that seeing the guy running around with the ball at the top of the arc, and then heaving a shot up.  Why?  Well, when that guy gets the ball behind the arc, there's that sucking in of air, that nervous pause, as he squares up and lets it fly.  There's no preparation for it, like with T-Mac's last second three last night (you knew as he ran down the court he was going to shoot a 3) - it just goes in the shooter's hands and all of a sudden it's an, “Oh my God, this is it“ moment.  Had Horry missed that shot, the Kings would be up 3-1, but with the make the series was knotted at two a piece, and the Lakers did go on to win (in seven).
4. Paxon's Three Against the Suns (Game 6, 1993 Finals) - Another one of those “Oh my God“ moments, as Grant kicks the ball out to Paxon for the open three.  This setup is somewhat similar to Game 6 of the '98 Finals - the Bulls were trying to Three Peat, they were fatigued, were in Phoenix for Games 6 and 7, were down by 2 to the Suns late in the game... it was shaping up for a disaster, but Paxon's shot saved the game and brought the first Three Peat in over a decade to the city of Chicago.
5. Reggie Miller's Barrage of Three's (Game 1, 1995 ECSF) - This was the game where Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds.  This was made possible by Reggie's sharpshooting, but also because the Knicks blundered down the stretch, making a couple bad passes/decisions.  But still, Reggie was on fire and was not going to miss.  The Pacers went on to win the series in seven games.

Any games I've missed?  Care to add your own?  On an aside, I found the following page - http://www.nba.com/germany/sharpshooters/three_debut_040908.html - which has footage of the Top 10 3 Pointers in the Last 25 Years, and includes Reggie's shots as well as Paxon's three to win the '93 Finals.