National Basketball Association Playoff Buzzer Beaters
Rex Chapman. Eddie Johnson. John Stockton. All were smart, seasoned
veterans, but none was designated the "go-to" Basektball Player on his
respective team. With the game on the line, however, all three
Basektball Players delivered buzzer-beaters that made the 1997
postseason a memorable one in the Western Conference Playoffs.
The Seattle SuperSonics led Chapman's Phoenix Suns by as many as 12
points in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of their First Round series
when the Suns began to respond. The basketball team closed the gap to
three points in the final seconds, thanks largely to Chapman, who had
already scored 10 points in the period. Danny Ainge drew up the play
for the man with the hot hand, and he delivered a basketball shot
nothing short of miraculous.
The inbounds pass from Jason Kidd hit a running Chapman on the right
wing, with Seattle guard Hersey Hawkins on him step-for-step. In
stride, Chapman heaved the ball toward the basket with his right hand
as momentum led him out of bounds. The prayer was answered with a
perfect rainbow that fell right through the middle of the basketball
hoop, tying the game at 107-107 with 1.9 second left.
Somehow, the Sonics overcame the momentum shift to win in overtime,
but the shot was the lingering image of the postseason. "I'm sure it's
exciting to watch but it doesn't feel good to be on the wrong end of a
game like that," said Chapman. Johnson, a 16-year veteran, wasn't even
a member of the Houston Rockets until being signed as a free agent in
March. A prolific scorer in his prime, Johnson had found a niche late
in his basketball career as a lethal sharpshooter off the bench.
Johnson's presence sparked the Rockets to a 19-5 finish and playoff
series wins over Minnesota and Seattle.
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The Conference Finals pitted the Rockets against the Utah Jazz.
Though he had just celebrated his 38th birthday, Johnson still had
plenty of energy to give the Jazz fits. He scored a game-high 31
points in Game 3 and delivered the Game 4 game-winner for an encore.
Johnson was stationed behind the 3-point line at the top of the key
with the basketball game tied at 92-92 and time for one play. Johnson
took a pass from Matt Maloney, set, and fired a strike through the
basketball hoop as the buzzer sounded. An animated Johnson hi-stepped
off the basketball court as the celebration began at the Summit. " I
have never hit a bigger shot in my career. If we lost we would have to
go back to Utah down 3-1. But winning this game is huge."
Johnson and the Rockets would not win another basketball game, for
Utah had a sharpshooter of its own in Stockton, whose heroics not only
propelled the Jazz to victory, but into the Finals for the first time.
The Jazz trailed by 13 points with less than seven minutes to play,
but Stockton scored 15 of his game-high 25 in the final quarter,
including the team's final nine points - none more dramatic than the
series-ending three-pointer.
With the basketball game tied at 100-100 and time for one play,
Stockton took the inbounds pass from Bryon Russell behind a pick from
Karl Malone and had a wide-open look from the top of the arc. Rockets
forward Charles Barkley was too late coming over and Stockton's shot
swished through at the buzzer.
"At the end of the game, it's easy for everyone to get
helter-skelter," Stockton said. "I thought everybody did what they
were supposed to do. Bryon made a great pass to me to get the ball to
me quickly and I just got rid of it. I was free for a second and I
felt comfortable shooting it."
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