NBA legends are created in the playoffs, and nothing elevates a player with mythical prestige faster than connecting to a clutch hub.
That’s why even casual enthusiasts know the names of Robert Horry and John Paxson, in a different way, unnamed actors who have just entered some of the most important baskets in the history of the league.
With the power of Luka Doncic’s latest dagger, we search through recent archives, which date back to the 2010 playoffs, identify and rank the most productive shots. These buzzers-batters and series-clinchers have been evaluated on everything from the difficulty of shooting to betting and the importance attributed to them.
Vince Carter: first game of 2014, 3
Carter obviously doesn’t age on the same curve as the rest of us, and this miracle as a 37-year reserve is one of millions of tests.
In just 1.7 seconds, Carter walked away from Manu Ginóbili, simulated at the bomb to buy some margin and threw a three-lap pass bouncing almost into the stands. The shot did not uncovered anything yet sharp, turning the Dallas Mavericks’ two-point deficit into a one-point victory. But the 16th-seeded Mavs would fall to the San Antonio Spurs, the first in seven games.
Derrick Rose and LeBron James: 2015 conference semi-finals, games and 4
When a couple of more valuable players lock up their horns in a series of playoffs, that’s exactly what basketball players should see.
Rose helped the third-seeded Chicago Bulls take a 2-1 lead in a bench shot that struck the bell on Tristan Thompson’s 6’9″ outstretched arms. In the next game, James returned the favor by piercing a three-corner over Jimmy Butler. the final horn sounded to tie the series with two wins each.
“I intended to take the ball out, and I told [the then Coach of the Cavaliers, David Blatt] that there is no way to remove the ball unless I can throw it over the board and enter,” James said, through Andrew. Keh from the New York Times. “I told him, ask someone to take the ball from me, give me the ball and everyone leaves.”
The Cavs would win this series in six and then qualify for the NBA Finals in James’ first season in Ohio.
LeBron James: First 2018, Game 5
James’ last match in Cleveland was almost in the first round. It was almost a one-man army at this point, and was suffering to part with the 5-seed Indiana Pacers in the first round. Indiana won Games 1 and 3, meaning Cleveland did not lead the series in a critical fifth game.
The Cavs had a six-point lead with 4:38 per game and have cooled down, allowing Domantas Sabonis’ shot to tie the score with 33 seconds to be played. James spun the ball but blocked Victor Oladipo in Indiana’s possession, giving the ball to Cleveland in a 3-second draw for playing.
The Cavs attacked James, who dried twice to his left, planted and fired from the most sensible key to Thaddeus Young 6’8.” James hit the net alone, giving the win to Cleveland and the series, which he won in seven The Cavs would make his fourth appearance in the final in four seasons since James’s return, and was released by the Los Angeles Lakers shortly thereafter.
Damian Lillard: first 2014, game 6
That was the moment when the entire Pacific Northwest population put their clocks on Lillard Time. This was only his season of time in the Association, and he had not even denounced the Blazers’ offensive, as he was still passing through LaMarcus Aldridge.
But with Portland losing two runs and less than a remaining moment in Game 6, the Blazers called their star of the moment to pitch them against the Houston Rockets and in the moments round. Lillard was not baffled by the time Chandler Parsons, 6’9,” stretched and coldly spun a 25-foot series.
Maybe I’m abusing the bias of the recent here, because it’s knowing all the risks of Luka Doncic’s dagger without knowing how this series unfolds.
By saying that, sheesh. Everything in the series is filthy and as much as possible.
He’s not even sure to see the court when a sprained ankle in the third game left him as a game decision. He participated in this contest without his 7’3 co-star Kristaps Porzingis, who sat with pain in his knees. The People’s Championship selects and employs two of the game’s tasackies, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Oh, yes: Doncic is 21. It’s the fourth playoff game of his career.
It makes sense.
And yet the star of the moment dazzled his historical performance, with a cap of 43 points, 17 rebounds, thirteen assists with this bomb. He created his own airspace with a couple of crosses in a row through a step back, then surrendered and splashed the longest winning ringtone in playoff history (28 feet).
“I can’t feel the emotions I had,” Doncic said, through ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “Not just when the ball comes in, but when I see the whole team running towards me. It was something special, one of the most productive emotions I’ve ever had as a player. Just something special.”
Before we reach the ability to make this shot, let’s start with the audacity to check it out.
While Portland is the top seed (third), sixth seed Oklahoma City Thunder favored nearly everyone. OKC stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George enjoyed more highlights than Lillard, who began to be forgotten when the Blazers were eliminated from the first circular of the last two seasons.
Lillard needed the win to reclaim his position among the elite, and the Blazers, who had a 3-1 lead, had to seal the deal to give a talented but imperfect Thunder team a chance for the moment. Then, when he passed the ball over the part of the area with more than 10 moments remaining in a draw game, they all watched and waited for his attacking move.
But he was only overcoming the seconds, methodically dribbling back and forth and making everyone fall asleep. Then it happened. While he was almost riding the central logo, he stepped right and fired, from 37 feet! The Blazers only needed one point, but Lillard, who is so cool that he’s going to dance in the last quarter of a playoff game if you play the right way, took the dramatic path to the Thunder and pulled them off the ground.
George called it a bad shot. If more had been thrown, they might have been right. But Lillard has an unlimited range, as well as the confidence to take and make monumental shots.
“I’m hunting on the edge and I like a fluffy beach,” Lillard said, through ESPN’s Royce Young. “… When I was there, I thought, ‘I’m going to shoot him.’ [George] a little far from me and [I thought] it was enough area to get up and pull it for the game.”
Statistically speaking, this may be the biggest hit in NBA history.
Kyrie Irving was only 24 at the time and was betting at the time of the playoffs. His opponent was a Golden State Warriors team that had just raised the all-time mark with a record of 73 wins. The stage was the Oracle Arena in Oakland, a construction in which the Dubs finished 39-2 in the campaign. His defense was Stephen Curry, the most productive shooter he’s ever played and perhaps the biggest basketball star at the time.
It’s less than a minute before the seventh win-win game for the championship. The scene doesn’t get bigger. The projector doesn’t shine any brighter.
But Irving’s in no hurry. In fact, he seemed relaxed. The guy with a million dribbling moves opted for a vicious face-down escape dribble to open his firing window. He lifted, let go, splashed and made history.
A defensive stop, a loose shot through LeBron James and some failed Warriors later, the Cavaliers ended their city’s 52-year championship drought as they snapped the first team out of a 3-1 gap in the final. Irving’s dagger also meant that the Dubs would not mark their historic season differently with a championship ending.
“It’s quiet,” Irving later said of his mental state on the Bill Simmons podcast (h/t Drew Shiller on NBC Sports). “Anyway, do it or fail, I’ll be fine with the result. Array… It’s a little melted to the right. But my angle with the simply perfect hoop.
At the end of the 2019 Eastern Conference, it was at stake when Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers in the moments round. A round-trip deal had just been closed (for the seventh and last time) on Jimmy Butler’s tray with 4.2 moments remaining, leaving the Raptors long enough to move on to the jugular.
Leonard took the incoming pass near the maximum sensitive key and without delay headed right. The first player on his way Ben Simmons 6’10”, who has a valid argument as the basketball’s top flexible defender. Leonard continued to poll forehand and then met Joel Embiid, a two-time All-Defensive 7’0″ selection.
It’s the equivalent of converting basketball lanes in rush hour and finding traffic jams in each of them.
At least he deserved to have been that Leonard hadn’t designed the ultimate hit in the history of the Toronto franchise. He ran to the right corner and shot Embiid. The arched lift bounced first at the front of the rim and stopped. A moment of rebound sent the ball to the back iron, where it bounced and hit the hoop for the fourth time before even though it all fell.
“It seemed short, ” said the Sixers goalkeeper, J.J. Redick said at ESPN. “It seemed short. And a lot of excitement comes when the ball starts rolling down the hoop.”
You can take a look at this shot a hundred times and keep doubting that those bounces end up somewhere other than a failure.
The drama caught at the time of filming can be his main point of promotion. But given the difficulty of moving in a 7 feet and the abundant diversity of that brand (Toronto earned its first name and Philadelphia wasting its most productive championship opportunity after the Process), it is not a minor miracle. It’s not number one.
This shot technically didn’t win a series, it didn’t even win a game, so if you need to complain about that ranking, this is your argument. But between the technical experience to succeed, the championship phase, the star strength of this series and the manic education regime that helped to achieve it, here are too many things going on to put something else on top.
The series still dreams of South Beach and leads to nightmares in the city of Alamo. The Spurs were up 3 and only a defensive prevention to secure the title. The workers’ security corps pulled out the yellow ropes and the championship trophy was taken to court in anticipation of the silver and black coronation.
James failed with a 3 when there was 10 seconds left. Chris Bosh captured the offensive rebound in traffic and discovered Ray Allen on the opposite side running towards the corner. Bosh hit Allen in the stride, and the sniper grabbed the ball and fired without even verifying his position on the field. Turns out the mythical hard worker had drilled for this precise scenario.
Allen snuggled up between the three-point arc and the boundary line, presented himself without hesitation and, in Mike Breen’s words, “BANG!” The Heat tied the scoring, stocked his season and, after winning and winning Game 7, built his bridge to a championship of moments in so many other seasons.
“Once the ball came out of the hoop, I knew it had to be successful on the three-point line,” Allen told Paul Flannery of SB Nation in 2013. “We needed a three. Two passes to cut it. So my brain, the list of marks is actually to have my legs in one position and under me, so that when the ball comes, if it does, I was in a position to pass in the air.”
The last of 2013 had so many compelling elements. LeBron James tripled twice. Tim Duncan had 30 problems and 17 rebounds at age 37. Dwyane Wade had 32 problems and six interceptions in one game, then 25 problems and 10 assists in the next. Kawhi Leonard laid the foundation for his rise to the All-Star Game. Erik Spoelstra and Gregg Popovich did a masterful task on the sidelines.
But when he remembers this series, his first idea is Allen from the corner. It is a testament to an all-time brand and the most productive decisive coup in recent playoff history.
All stats are provided through NBA.com and Basketball Reference, unless otherwise noted.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.