Kobe to Wilt to Jordan: 75 to remember
During NBA All-Star Weekend, the league honored its 75 Greatest players upon its 75th anniversary.
Such a list is always tough to assemble. So imagine how tough it would be to put together a list of the NBA’s 75 greatest and most memorable moments?
There have been too many special moments to recount. But some iconic stand out as truly special. There’s Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in March 1962. There’s Dr. J’s dunks. There’s Kobe Bryant’s career finale, Gar Heard’s “Shot Heard Round the World,” LeBron James’ block that helped secure the Cavaliers’ unlikely Finals comeback, and all the Michael Jordan moments. But there were also some memorable moments that the league would love to forget.
Here’s our list of the greatest 75 moments (in random order).
No. 8 Nuggets upset No. 1 Sonics
The Denver Nuggets finished 1993-94 with a 42-40 record, which got them in the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. The Seattle SuperSonics were loaded with talent and a 63-19 record. It was the first time a No. 1 seed lost to a No. 8 seed since the NBA adopted its current playoff format in 1984. No moment from that series resonates as strongly as a crying Dikembe Mutombo falling to the Sonics court after Game 5, holding the ball triumphantly above his head.
Bill Russell traded from St. Louis
In 1956, the St. Louis Hawks traded No. 2 pick Bill Russell on draft night to the Boston Celtics for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan. It was the start of the Celtics’ dynasty. Before then, the Celtics failed to advance past the second round for six straight seasons.
Jerry West’s half-court buzzer-beater in 1970
In April 1970, in the closing seconds of Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, West hit down a buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied the score at 102 and forced overtime. Ultimately it became one more tortured Finals in West’s career. The Knicks eventually
won the game 111-108 and took a 2-1 lead in the series. Years later, West would say he “still can’t believe the Lakers lost that game.”
New York embraces Linsanity
For a torrid stretch in February and March in 2012 for the Knicks, Harvard grad Jeremy Lin went from relative anonymity to global superstardom. In his first five career starts, Lin scored 136
points – the most since the NBA-ABA merger – and went on to lead New York to 10 wins in 13 games. The unlikely stretch landed him on back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and a spot on Time Magazine’s list of The World’s 100 Most Influential People.
Reggie Miller’s eight points in 8.9 seconds
In Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference
semifinals, Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to win the game for the Indiana Pacers, after trailing 105-99, with 18.7 seconds remaining. Miller had been just 1 of 5 from long distance before this flurry of points.
Prep star Darryl Dawkins enters NBA
Just three days before the 1975 NBA draft, Dawkins decided to bypass offers from Florida State, Kansas and Kentucky and entered the draft, at the time becoming the seventh high school senior to do so. The Philadelphia 76ers selected the 6-foot-11 Dawkins with the No. 5 overall pick. He was the first player to enter the NBA immediately after high school and he languished on the bench for the first two seasons.
David Robinson wins 1994 scoring title
Shaquille O’Neal led Robinson by just 0.06 points per game and 33 total points entering the season finale. First up, Shaq and his Orlando Magic played against the New Jersey Nets. Shaq dominated the Nets, scoring 32 points while grabbing 22 rebounds in a 120-91 victory. Next up, it was Robinson’s turn vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. He and his teammates wanted the scoring title. So when the ball was tipped on that night in April 1994, the game plan was simple: get the ball to Robinson. He scored the Spurs’ first 18 points en route to a career-high 71 points.
Larry Bird’s legendary 60-point game
The 60-point game on March 12, 1985, was the Celtics’ single-game scoring record until Jayson Tatum tied it last season. Bird went 22 of 36 from the field, including just 1 of 4 from 3-point range. Bird scored 32 points over a 14-minute span in the second half. After the game – which was played at Lakefront Arena on the campus of the University of New Orleans – Hawks star Dominique Wilkins said, “The way he was shooting the ball was like living in a video game. It couldn’t be real. But it was.”
Kobe Bryant’s career finale
In the final game of his storied 20-season career, Bryant scored 60 points
against the Utah Jazz and hit the winning shot with 31.6 seconds left. He scored 15 of the Lakers’ final 17 points. He outscored the Jazz 23-21 in the fourth quarter. The performance punctuated a season-long farewell tour.
Knicks win Patrick Ewing sweepstakes
When the Knicks won the draft lottery in 1985, there was little mystery as to who they would choose with the No. 1 pick. In selecting Ewing out of Georgetown, the Knicks got a player who would largely be responsible for the renaissance of the franchise in the mid-1980s and 1990s and who holds every major team record. He was one of the greatest centers of his era, perhaps the greatest jump-shooting big man ever, and he won Olympic gold on the original Dream Team in 1992, was named one of the NBA’s Greatest 75 players and led the Knicks to the brink of a title in 1994.
Racial integration of NBA in 1950
Three years after Jackie Robinson became Major League Baseball’s first Black player in 1947, Chuck Cooper joined the Boston Celtics in 1950, becoming the first African American to play in the NBA. As the African American Registry once wrote, Blacks took what was once a highly mechanical and rigid game and developed it into a forum for their self-expression. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain elevated the game with their thunderous slam-dunks and graceful layups. And players such as Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson introduced speed and agility to the NBA.
Steph Curry breaks all-time 3-point mark
Curry merely validated his de facto title as the NBA’s greatest-ever shooter this season. Just 789 games into a dazzling career, Curry surpassed Ray Allen with the 2,974th 3-pointer of his career to become the NBA’s all-time leader in 3pointers made. Curry’s accomplishment is all the more remarkable considering it took Allen 1,300 games to set the mark.
Julius Erving’s Up & Under layup
In Game 4 of the 1980 NBA Finals, Erving turned in one of the most iconic plays in league history. With 7 minutes, 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Dr. J went baseline and took off toward the sky. After hanging in the air for what seemed forever, Erving contorted his body to maneuver past Kareem AbdulJabbar, swooped his right arm around to the other side of the rim and majestically laid in a reverse layup.
Spurs win draft lottery, select Tim Duncan
Growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Duncan seemed destined to follow his sister’s footsteps into a swimming career, but he discovered basketball at the age of 14. With Duncan as their cornerstone, the San Antonio Spurs would go on to win five championships and post a 1,072-438 regular-season record for a .710 winning percentage, the best 19-year stretch in NBA history. Duncan’s imprint on the franchise has few parallels in pro sports.
Hakeem Olajuwon wins back-to-back titles
Olajuwon helped the Houston Rockets become the lowest seed ever to win the 1995 NBA title. The Rockets entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. But Olajuwon averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists to lead the Rockets to a sweep against Shaquille O’Neal and Orlando and their second consecutive NBA title. Critics pointed out the titles came only after Michael Jordan retired to play baseball or was working himself back into shape. After the Finals, Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said, “I have only one thing to say to those non-believers. Don’t underestimate the heart of a champion.”
NBA Finals moves to live TV
With a near-record 31 million viewers watching the 2016 NBA Finals, it may be inconceivable that there were seasons even in the 1980s that the Finals were shown on tape delay. During this era, CBS did not air weeknight games in some markets live, opting to run their primetime programming and run the games after the local news. In fact, four games of the 1981 Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets were held until 11:30 p.m. ET. Game 3 of the Western Conference finals between the Lakers and Rockets in 1986 was the last time an NBA playoff game was on tape delay.
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird enter NBA in 1979
Bird was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in 1978 after his second year at Indiana State but elected to stay in college and play one more season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season in 1978-79. The season finished with a national championship game matchup against Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. They began their NBA careers in 1979 and together the duo built up a rivalry between the two most storied franchises in league history. Their rivalry has largely been credited with revitalizing the NBA.
Willis Reed’s NBA Finals Game 7 walk-out
In Game 5 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Lakers, Reed, the Knicks center, went down with a torn thigh, forcing him to miss Game 6. With the series on the line, Reed limped down the Madison Square Garden tunnel 15 minutes before tip-off after receiving injections. It was the emotional rush the Knicks needed. Reed hit two early jump shots and boosts his teammates’ confidence and performance for their first NBA championship. The New York Post once called it the most significant moment in New York sports history.
Ray Allen’s clutch 3-pointer
Allen capped the Heat’s rally to tie the Spurs in the final 30 seconds of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals with one of his most memorable shots. Down 95-92, Chris Bosh grabbed an offensive rebound for Miami and found Allen for the tying 3 from the right corner with 5.2 seconds left. The Heat held on 103-100 in overtime to even the series before winning Game 7 on the road for their second straight championship.
Wes Unseld wins MVP, Rookie of the Year in 1969
Unseld instantly made the team then known as the Baltimore Bullets into a winning franchise after it selected him No. 2 overall in the 1968 draft. He became one of only two players to win NBA Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same season, along with Wilt Chamberlain. As a rookie, he averaged 13.8 points and 18.2 rebounds, while the team went 57-25, a 21-win improvement over the previous season and the franchise’s first winning record.
Zach LaVine-Aaron Gordon revive Slam Dunk contest
Then-Timberwolves guard LaVine and then-Magic rookie Gordon brought the long-comatose dunk contest back to life. The pair produced tit-for-tat brilliance. At one point LaVine and Gordon were given six successive perfect 50 scores by the judges – unprecedented in the competition. Two dunk-offs were needed before LaVine emerged the winner with a 50.
Jerry West named Finals MVP after Lakers fall
West is the only player to win NBA Finals MVP honors after the Lakers lost the 1969 championship series. West averaged 37.9 points in that series on 49% shooting from the field, but the Lakers lost to Bill Russell’s Celtics in Game 7. West was inconsolable, and Russell held his hand, and John Havlicek said, “I love you, Jerry.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s all-time great Finals
Antetokounmpo went from “International Man of Mystery” before the 2013 draft to delivering the Milwaukee Bucks their first NBA title in 50 years. In a closeout game against the Phoenix Suns, his 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks put him in exceptionally rare company. He became the only player in league history with at least 50 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a Finals game; his 50point game tied Bob Pettit (1958) for the most in a Finals closeout game; and he was just the seventh player in league history to have 50 in a Finals game.
Michael Jordan’s 55-point effort at MSG
In just his fifth game since coming out of retirement in 1995 after an ill-fated minor league baseball career, Jordan broke his own Madison Square Garden opponent scoring record with 55 points on 21 of 37 shooting from the field. Spike Lee would later dub the masterpiece as a “Double Nickel.” Jordan crowned the effort with a game-winning assist to Bill Wennington with 3.1 seconds left that gave the Bulls a 113-111 win.
‘Havlicek stole the ball’
One of the most iconic plays in NBA history led to one of the most iconic calls in NBA history. With five seconds remaining in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference finals and Boston clinging to a 110-109 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, John Havlicek tipped the inbounds pass away from Chet Walker and toward teammate Sam Jones, who dribbled out the clock as fans poured onto the court. Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most immortalized the event in his playby-play calling that featured him shouting, “Havlicek stole the ball! It’s all over! It’s all over!”
Cavs stage historic comeback for NBA title
No team in NBA Finals history had come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the championship until the Cleveland Cavaliers came along in 2016. They stunned Golden State, winning Games 5, 6 and 7 with great plays in the closing minutes of the series finale by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, culminating with James and teammates bringing Cleveland its first pro sports title in 52 years.
Magic Johnson retires in 1991 due to HIV
On Nov. 7, 1991, Johnson shocked the world with his announcement that he was retiring from the Lakers immediately after learning he was HIV positive. “Life is going to go on for me, and I’m going to be a happy man. When your back is against the wall, you have to come out swinging,” he said at the time. At the time of his retirement, Johnson was the NBA’s all-time assists leader with 9,981, a three-time winner of the NBA MVP and Finals MVP, and a 11-time NBA All-Star. Johnson would go on to play in the 1992 Olympics and eventually return to the Lakers.
Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points
Chamberlain scored 100 points in the Philadelphia Warriors’ 169-147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. It is widely considered one of the greatest records in the sport’s history. Chamberlain set five other league records that game, including most free throws made, a notable achievement considering he was regarded as a poor free throw shooter. Since Chamberlain’s historic game, just five players not named Chamberlain have eclipsed 70 points in a game: Kobe Bryant (81), David Thompson (73), David Robinson (70), Elgin Baylor (71) and Devin Booker (70).
MJ’s 63-point game in playoffs vs. Boston
The Boston Celtics tried to stop Michael Jordan. It wasn’t an easy drive to the bucket. Oh, the Celtics put a hand in Jordan’s face and used different defenders, but he was unstoppable. He set a record for most points in a playoff game, dropping 63 on the Celtics. In the double overtime contest, Jordan went 22-for-41 from the field and 19-for-21 from the foul line. He didn’t attempt a 3-pointer. Celtics fans will point out that the Bulls lost that Game 2 and the next game, sweeping the Bulls in the first round in 1986.
Blake Griffin dunks over a car
Griffin became a YouTube sensation when he won the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest in Los Angeles by leaping over a car after teammate Baron Davis fed him the ball through the car’s sunroof. Griffin would say afterward that he grew up watching and re-watching every dunk contest on videotape, studying the event’s evolution. He said the car dunk was his idea from the very start – a perfect way to show off his combination of raw athleticism and Hollywood flair.
Celtics usher in Big 3 era, win 2008 title
The Celtics had two consecutive losing seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07, and they hadn’t won a title since 1986, the longest stretch in franchise history without a championship. The fans and the franchise were getting restless. So, front office exec Danny Ainge, a former Celtics player who understood the franchise’s history, pulled off trades, acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play alongside Paul Pierce. Boston started the season 27-2 and finished 62-20. The playoffs weren’t easy. They needed seven games to beat Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit and finally six to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. It marked the beginning of the modern Big 3 era in which teams tried to put three stars together to win a title.
Klay Thompson’s 37-point third quarter
After scoring 13 points in the first half, Thompson enjoyed arguably the best 12 minutes of any player in NBA history. In a Jan. 23, 2015, game against the hapless Kings, Thompson scored 37 points, setting an NBA record for points in a quarter and 3-pointers in a quarter (nine) and tied a league record for field goals made in a quarter by going 13-for-13 from the field. The third-quarter linescore: 9-for-9 on 3-point shots, 13-for-13 from the field, 2-for-2 at the free throw line. He outscored the Kings 37-22.
Julius Erving’s ‘Rock the Baby’ cradle dunk
In a January 1983 game against the Lakers, Dr. J stole the ball near half court. As he got to the key, he palmed the ball with one hand, rocked it and jumped for the dunk as defensive whiz Michael Cooper tried to block him.
Elgin Baylor’s 61-point Finals performance
The Celtics beat the Lakers to win the NBA title in seven games after fighting back from being down 3-2 in the series. But those 1962 Finals will be most remembered for Baylor’s Game 5 performance. He scored 61 points – a record that would stand for 24 years until Michael Jordan broke it – and grabbed 22 rebounds in a 126-121 Lakers victory at the Boston Garden that gave Los Angeles the series lead. Before Julius Erving and Jordan turned in nightly acrobatics, there was Baylor. The 6-foot-5 forward played a major role in revolutionizing basketball from a ground-bound sport into an aerial show.
Larry Bird steals ball from Isiah Thomas
The Celtics were facing the prospect of heading to Detroit down 3-2 in the 1987 Eastern Conference final. So after Bird’s potential go-ahead layup was blocked and the ball touched one of the Celtics on the way out of bounds, Bird stole an inbounds pass from Thomas with five seconds remaining. Before falling out of bounds, Bird found Dennis Johnson cutting to the hoop for a twisting layup with one second left, and the Celtics escaped with a 108-107 win. They went on to win the series but fell to the Lakers in the Finals.
Raptors bring 2019 championship to Canada
Toronto traded for Kawhi Leonard in the offseason and made the most of his one year with the team, becoming the first franchise outside the United States to win the NBA title. The run featured Leonard’s epic Game 7 winner to beat the 76ers in the conference semifinals and a 4-2 series win over the two-time defending champion Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks overcome Heat
It was the Miami Heat’s swagger versus the Dallas Mavericks’ humility. Nearly a year after boasting that the team would win multiple league championships, the Heat and Hall of Fame-caliber players LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were facing a Dallas team with fewer stars. The Mavericks won out, staging a pulsating comeback in Game 4 after being down 15 points midway through the fourth quarter and then closing out the series in Game 6. The victory was sweet revenge for the Mavericks, who had lost the 2006 Finals to Miami after winning the first two games.
NBA widens lane to 16 feet
The domination of big men in the paint forced the NBA to widen, as Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown likes to say, “the painted area.” The league first expanded the lane to 12 feet in 1951 in response to the dominance of George Mikan. Then when Wilt Chamberlain was too much to handle in the early 1960s, the league expanded the lane again to 16 feet to try to lessen Chamberlain’s massive impact. Widening the lane also led to an offensive explosion because guards were now able to drive into the lane to score.
Lakers’ record 33-game winning streak
Led by Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor, the Lakers didn’t lose a game for two months, running off 33 consecutive wins from Nov. 5, 1971, to Jan. 7, 1972. The winning streak propelled the eventual champion Lakers to a 69-13 record, the best in NBA history until Michael Jordan’s Bulls went 72-10 in 1995-96.
‘We Believe’ Warriors shock No. 1 Mavericks
The Warriors snagged the eighth seed in the Western Conference in 2006-07 at 42-40. Led by league MVP Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks went an NBA-best 6715. Behind raucous crowds at Oracle Arena in Oakland, the Warriors pulled off one of the biggest upsets in playoff history with a 4-2 series win in the first round, including a 25-point rout at home in the Game 6 clincher.
Michael Jordan’s ‘flu game’
Whether it was the flu, food poisoning or some other illness, Jordan was sick enough before Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals that he nearly didn’t play. Despite that, he turned in one of his most memorable performances with 38 points to help the Bulls rally past the Jazz 90-88 for a 3-2 series lead. Walking off the court in the final moments, Jordan famously collapsed in teammate Scottie Pippen’s arms, creating the iconic image from the game.
Jack Kent Cooke’s balloons aren’t needed
The Lakers owner was so confident his team would close out the 1969 NBA Finals in Game 7 against the Celtics that he had thousands of balloons hung in the rafters of The Forum in preparation to celebrate. After all, no home team had ever lost Game 7 of the Finals. The Celtics
learned of the balloons, with player/ coach Bill Russell determined to render them useless. Boston used the balloons as motivation to score a 108-106 upset and clinch its 11th championship in 13 years.
Wilt Chamberlain’s historic 1961-62 season
Chamberlain’s dominant 1961-62 season stands out even among his eye-popping careers numbers. In his third season, Chamberlain averaged an incredible 50.4 points (most all time) and 25.7 rebounds (third-most all time) for the Philadelphia Warriors. He scored at least 50 points in 45 of 80 games and at least 60 in 15 games. Remarkably, Chamberlain finished second in MVP voting behind rival Bill Russell.
Kobe Bryant pours in 81 points
Bryant dominated the Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, with the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. In a virtuoso performance, Bryant scored 81 points while shooting 28-for-46 from the field,
7-for-13 from 3-point range and 18-for-20 on free throws in the Lakers’ 122-104 win. The outburst helped Bryant average a career-high 35.4 points during the 2005-06 season.
Miami’s first title with Big 3
During the celebration after LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined forces with Dwyane Wade in Miami, the league was bracing for continued Heat dominance for years to come. But it didn’t get off to a quick start. The Heat advanced to the Finals during each of their four seasons together but didn’t win their first title until 2012 when they beat a young Oklahoma City Thunder team featuring Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
Bill Russell, Celtics win eighth consecutive title
Russell and the Celtics established the league’s greatest dynasty in the 1950s and ’60s, winning an incredible 11 championships in 13 years, including eight in a row from 1959-66. Russell was stellar against the Lakers in the 1966 Finals, averaging 23.6 points and 24.3 rebounds in a seven-game series win.
Rookie Magic Johnson wins Finals MVP
Johnson etched his place in NBA Finals lore in his very first season with a stellar series highlighted by his performance in the Lakers’ Game 6 win to clinch the 1980 title. With star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sidelined by an ankle injury, Johnson started at center and played every position, finishing with 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists as Los Angeles beat Philadelphia 123-107. He remains the only rookie to win Finals MVP.
Gar Heard’s ‘Shot Heard Round the World’
Heard’s turnaround buzzer-beater from the top of the key capped the chaotic final 20 seconds of the second overtime during Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals. The Suns trailed the Celtics 112110 with one second left when Heard’s bucket forced a third overtime after the Boston Garden crowd had stormed the court following an apparent Celtics game-winner moments before. The Celtics prevailed 128-126 in triple overtime, then clinched the NBA championship in Game 6.
NBA bans Donald Sterling for racist remarks
Faced with widespread outrage over racist comments said to be made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, the NBA in 2014 banned him for life, fined him $2.5 million and forced him to sell the franchise. It was one of the harshest penalties in the history of U.S. sports. In two audio recordings, Sterling told a female friend he didn’t want her to bring black people to Clippers games and didn’t want her to post photos of her with black people – including Magic Johnson – to her Instagram account. The comments infuriated NBA players and coaches, including members of the Clippers, and prompted a wide array of companies to sever their sponsorship agreements with the Clippers.
Michael Jordan hits ‘The Shot’ over Craig Ehlo
During the deciding Game 5 of the first-round against the host Cleveland Cavaliers, Jordan received an inbounds pass and made a buzzer-beater to give the Bulls a 101-100 win. The shot was the catalyst for the Bulls going on to eventually become the Team of the 1990s.