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MAGIC MOMENTS
From the NBA Finals to the Rio Olympics, the Super Bowl to a smaller-division college playoff game, and whether they were offered up by global icons or relative unknowns, some events were unforgettable. Here are a few of the great plays of 2016:
Simone Manuel of the U.S. was trailing by 0.47 seconds halfway through the women’s 100-meter freestyle gold medal race at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and a half-second is quite a bit to make up in such a race against the world’s best. But she made it look easy with a frantic final 50 meters, and made history — she became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming Olympic gold, tying Canada’s Penny Oleksiak for the win.
Dee Gordon of the Miami Marlins hit one home run in 2016. It was of the you-cannot-make-this-up variety — and it will forever live in Marlins lore. It was the first at-bat for the Marlins after the death of ace pitcher Jose Fernandez in a boating accident. Gordon, a lefty hitter, started on the right side of the plate as part of his Fernandez tribute. After moving back to the left side, he hit a ball farther than he ever has, while wearing a “Fernandez 16” jersey. Even some of the New York Mets were in tears, and the Mets tweeted out “Bigger Than Baseball.”
Imagine the pressure. Brazil, a soccer-crazed nation, is hosting the men’s gold-medal soccer match at the Olympics. The stadium is packed, and all the brilliant young star Neymar needs to do to clinch the perfect medal is make the final kick of a penalty-shot tiebreaking shootout. He found a spot to his right, started approaching the ball, stutter-stepped a bit and then finally delivered the kick. Germany goalie Timo Horn guessed wrong, the ball went into the net and Brazil roared in delight. Most of the crowd stayed in the stadium for an hour afterward, many weeping in joy.
Marcus Paige might have just hit one of the biggest shots in NCAA men’s basketball championship game history for North Carolina, a double-clutched, acrobatic-leg-kicking three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left to pull the Tar Heels into a tie with Villanova. And then Kris Jenkins did him one better. Jenkins took a pass from Ryan Arcidiacono, leaped and let fly from well beyond the arc. “Bang,” Wildcats coach Jay Wright said softly to himself as the ball was in flight — and bang was right. Jenkins’ shot went in as time expired, and Villanova had just beaten the Tar Heels, 77-74, for the national title.
All due respect to Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer, The Play of The Finals was offered by King James. LeBron James’ chase-down block of Andre Iguodala with 1:51 remaining in Game 7 of the NBA Finals — a shot that would have given Golden State the lead — wasn’t just the defining moment of 2016, but perhaps the defining moment of James’ Hall of Fame career as well. He didn’t do it alone, as J.R. Smith helped impede Iguodala’s path and give James the extra split-second that he needed to get to the rim. But the enormity of the moment made the block even bigger: Golden State had a record-setting 73-win regular season, the series was tied 3-3, the total points in that series were tied at that moment, 699-699. After that block, the Warriors wouldn’t score again. And James would soon become a three-time NBA champion.