NBA’s All-Time Best Playoff Buzzer Beaters

Outside of that amazing Game 7 between the San Antonio Spurs and L.A. Clippers, this past weekend was easily the most entertaining stretch of the 2015 NBA Playoffs so far. Derrick Rose’s huge game-winning shot on Friday night, then Paul Pierce’s on Saturday afternoon and finally LeBron James’ on Sunday were enough to give NBA fans a collective heart attack.

Those were great buzzer beaters, all three of them (four, if we include Chris Paul’s), but it’s hard to quantify where those all fit in the big scheme of history’s best buzzer beaters because we don’t know how any of these narratives end just yet.

This year’s incredible game-winners aside, here’s a look at some of the most amazing buzzer-beaters in NBA postseason history.

Honorable Mention:

Ralph Sampson, 1986 Western Conference Finals, Game 5 – After hitting a three-pointer to tie the game at 102, the Houston Rockets were able to get a stop on the other end against a loaded L.A. Lakers team, then called time out with just a second to go. With Olajuwon out (he’d been ejected with five minutes left in the game), the Rockets decided to whip the inbounds pass into Ralph Sampson, who barely even looked at the basket as he fired up a prayer over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Just for the sake of drama, the ball bounced around a couple of times before crashing through, and that was it for the Lakers, who were sent home while the Rockets headed to the NBA Finals, where they’d eventually lose to the Boston Celtics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF740MqYbOs

Jerry West, 1970 NBA Finals, Game 3 – West gets extra points for degree of difficulty, because this particular shot flew 60 feet in the final moment to tie up Game 3 of the 1970 Finals mere seconds after Dave DeBusschere drained a shot to give the New York Knicks a two-point lead. (Had there been three-pointers in 1970, it would have won the game, not just tied it). The Lakers did lose in overtime, but there’s no question that West’s buzzer-beating bomb was a thing of beauty and certainly one of the most amazing playoff shots in league history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz-lyvtuilM

#5 – Vinnie Johnson, 1990 NBA Finals, Game 5 – When the game is tied, the title is on the line and there’s only 20 seconds left to play, it makes sense that Detroit would look to Isiah Thomas to close things out. But that’s not what happened, as Thomas was cut off on the drive, so he dished it out to Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, who took a few dribbles and nailed an off-balance 14-footer that clinched a second consecutive title for the Pistons. It was the most subdued championship celebration maybe ever, but the shot itself was hugely clutch. No other buzzer beater on the list clinched the NBA Finals.

#4 – Gar Heard, 1976 NBA Finals, Game 5 – This was “The Shot Heard Round the World,” a last-second jumper at the elbow in Boston Garden at the end of double-overtime that would keep Phoenix alive for another five minutes of action. It came after a John Havlicek jumper so exciting that Boston fans actually stormed the court thinking they’d won the game. That Heard jumper sent it to another overtime, and while the Suns ultimately would lose the game to the Celtics, the whole triple-overtime ordeal places this game among the greatest NBA games ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcXtjt2bMUw

#3 – Robert Horry, 2002 Western Conference Finals, Game 4 – The Lakers were on the verge of a Game 4 loss to the upstart Sacramento Kings, which would have put them down 1-3 in the series. However, Robert “Big Shot Rob” Horry hit a deep ball literally in the last second of the game after both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal missed close-range shots that could have tied it and sent it into overtime. Instead, Horry’s three-pointer put the game to bed, and the Lakers ended up winning the series and the 2002 title. History could have been a whole lot different had Vlade Divac hauled in that rebound instead of tapping out to the top of the key.

#2 – Derek Fisher, 2004 Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5 – In this game, a pivotal one considering the series was tied 2-2, Tim Duncan hit an improbable fade-away jumper at the top of the key with only 0.4 seconds left on the clock. That gave the Spurs a one-point lead with less than half a second left, so San Antonio fans were understandably going nuts. Spurs players were jumping all over each other like they had just won the championship, while the Lakers looked like someone had punched every single one of them in the stomach. It seemed over; except it wasn’t, because Derek Fisher caught an inbounds pass that he fired up immediately, and of course it sunk through. Duncan’s jumper should have been the dagger. That it wasn’t is a testament to just how big this moment really was.

#1 – Michael Jordan, 1989 Eastern Conference 1st Round, Game 5 – There is so much about this shot that makes it the most legendary playoff buzzer-beater of all time, but while the hanging jumper over Craig Ehlo and subsequent in-air fist pumps are what everybody remembers, the really amazing thing about this game was that there were three consecutive daggers to finish the game. Jordan hit a shot with six seconds to go to give Chicago a one-point lead, then the Cavaliers sent the ball inbounds to Ehlo, who took it in for a way-too-easy-layup. That set up “The Shot,” which Jordan drained, and while the Bulls didn’t win the championship that year, MJ’s clutch shooting and that first-round series win set them on a course that would ultimately prove legendary. As far as NBA buzzer beaters go, there isn’t a more iconic one in league history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5WUOnTxwPw

Paul’s shot could probably get itself an honorable mention on this list, as could Damian Lillard’s insane deep ball last season against the Houston Rockets, but the contemporary stuff is still too fresh to rate properly. These other shots have had plenty of time to marinate in our minds and find their place in the rankings. The way things are going, though, this postseason is going to give us two or three last-second gems a week and there isn’t any fan of the game rooting against that.