Buzzer beater

In basketball, a buzzer beater is a shot taken just before the game clock of a period expires, when the buzzer sounds, and red lighting framed around the backboard and along the scorer's table lights up. The term is normally reserved for baskets that win or tie the game at the last moment (more appropriately called as a "walk-off buzzer beater"). If a player releases the ball "beating" the buzzer, so that it sounds while the ball is in mid-air, the shot still counts if it goes in. Often, a buzzer beating shot will be released from long range (even from beyond half court), making for a spectacular play when it connects.

Officials in the NCAA, NBA, Serie A (Italy), and Euroleague (Final Four series only, effective 2006) are required to use instant replay to assess whether a basket made at the end of a period was in fact released before the game clock expired. Since 2002, the NBA also has mandated duplicate light strips on both the backboard and on the scorer's table for the purpose of identifying the end of period.

Remarkable buzzer beaters

Although buzzer beaters are fairly common, several instances have been recognised as special occasions:

NBA Playoffs

*In Game 1 of the 1950 NBA Finals, Bob Harrison of the Minneapolis Lakers hit a 40-foot last-second shot that won the Lakers the game. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/players/mikan_bio.html NBA.com: George Mikan Bio ] ]
*In Game 4 of the 1969 NBA Finals, Sam Jones hit an off balance 18-foot jump shot as time expired to lift his Boston Celtics to a crucial 89-88 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19681969.html NBA.com: West's Heroics Can't Deprive Russell of 11th Title ] ]
*In Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Jerry West sank an incredible desperation final-second 60-foot shot to tie the game at 102-102. However, his Los Angeles Lakers still lost against the New York Knicks in overtime, 108-111. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/mrclutch_moments.html NBA.com: Mr. Clutch Sinks a 60-Footer ] ]
*In Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals, Gar Heard of the Phoenix Suns hit a last second double overtime jump shot against the Boston Celtics to tie the game at 112. This was one of the many high points of a nail-biting triple overtime game, which the Celtics won 128-126. Heard's shot is one of the reasons why that game is referred to by the NBA as "The Greatest Game Ever". [ [http://www.nba.com/suns/history/greatestgame_index.html SUNS: Greatest Game Ever ] ]
*In Game 1 of the 1986 Eastern Conference (First Round), Dudley Bradley of the Washington Bullets hit a last-second three pointer that won the Bullets the game vs the Philadelphia 76ers after the 76ers had led by 17 with just three minutes left.
*In Game 3 of the 1986 Western Conference Semifinals, Derek Harper of the Dallas Mavericks hit a long three-pointer that won Dallas the game 110–108 against the Los Angeles Lakers as the buzzer sounded. [http://www.nba.com/encyclopedia/moments/60moments_hm_11-20.html The 60 Greatest Playoff Moments: Honorable Mention] ]
* In Game 5 of the 1986 Western Conference Semifinals, the Houston Rockets were tied at 112 with one second left and the ball at half-court. Ralph Sampson scored on a last-second tip-in shot against the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Rockets won the series 4–1. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/top10_shot.html What is the greatest shot in NBA history?] ]
*On May 7 1989, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls received an inbounds pass with three seconds left, sprinted to the top of the key with defenders hounding him, and launched a last-second shot over Craig Ehlo of the Cleveland Cavaliers to sink "The Shot", lifting his Bulls over the Cavaliers with 101-100. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/jordancav_moments.html NBA.com: Jordan Hits "The Shot" ] ]
*In the 1995 NBA Playoffs, Nick Van Exel of the Los Angeles Lakers drained a three-point shot with 0.5 seconds remaining to a 98-96 win over the San Antonio Spurs. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/1995heroics_moments.html NBA.com: 1995 Playoff Heroics ] ]
*In Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Western Conference Finals, John Stockton of the Utah Jazz buried a three-pointer as time expired, lifting his Jazz over the Houston Rockets 103-100 and taking the series 4-2. [
*In Game 1 of the 1997 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan drilled a fadeaway jumper over Bryon Russell to give the Bulls an 84-82 win over the Jazz. [http://www.nba.com/history/97buzzer_moments.html NBA.com: Playoff Buzzer-Beaters ] ]
*In Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers were trailing the Sacramento Kings by 2 with the score at 99–97 with 11 seconds left in the game. The Lakers were trailing two games to one in the series and faced Game 5 at Sacramento. On the final possession, after his teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal missed consecutive layups and Vlade Divac swatted the ball away to run out the clock, Robert Horry caught the ball and hit a three-pointer as time expired. The Lakers won the game 100–99 and eventually won the series and the championship.
*In the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2004 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers were trailing the San Antonio Spurs with 0.4 seconds left and the ball at halfcourt after a timeout. Derek Fisher of the Lakers caught the ball and incredibly scored the last points of the miraculous 74-73 win. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=240513024 ESPN - Los Angeles vs. San Antonio Recap, May 13, 2004 ] ]
*In Game 5 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, with the series tied 2-2, the Pistons were down three to the Nets with no timeouts remaining. Billups quickly ran the ball up the court and banked in the three from halfcourt to tie the game.

Olympics and ULEB

*In the 1972 Olympic Finals, Alexander Belov of the Soviet Union scored a last-second basket after catching a full-court desperation launch by a team mate. As time expired, Belov hit a layup that won the game 51-50 against the U.S. team. [ [http://pahoops.org/1972olympics.htm 1972 USA vs ] ]
*(Euroleague) On April 7, 2004, Maccabi Tel Aviv was trailing Žalgiris at home, on the decisive round-robin match to determine which team advances to the Final Four tournament, held later that month on Maccabi's home court in Tel Aviv. Maccabi's failure to advance would mean utter disaster, as team officials battled all season long against Euroleague attempts to relocate the tournament due to ensuing Al-Aqsa intifada and similar UEFA ban on football (soccer) matches hosted in Israel. With 2 seconds remaining and Maccabi trailing by 3 points, Derrick Sharp caught a long pass from Gur Shelef, turned to the basket and fired a game-tying fade-away three-pointer, forcing overtime. Maccabi won that game, advanced to the Final Four and became Euroleague Champion, winning the final game against Skipper Bologna by the all-time record score of 118-74. [ [http://217.13.116.51/reports/report.jsp?temporada=E03&jornada=20&partido=215 Maccabi-Zalgiris Report ] ]
* In the 2004 Olympics after a less than average start by Team USA against Germany, Allen Iverson of Team USA(and the Philadelphia 76ers at the time)hit a miraculous half-court shot to keep the game from going into overtime.

NBA regular play

*On January 3, 1984, Jeff Malone of the Washington Bullets made a crazy sprinting last-second three-point shot as he was falling out of bounds, winning the game 103–102 versus the Detroit Pistons. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E3DC1338F937A35752C0A962948260 Bullets 103, Pistons 102] ] The play has been acknowledged by the NBA as one of the greatest plays of all-time. [ [http://www.nba.com/history/top10_shot.html What is the greatest shot in NBA history?] ]
*In November of 2005, the Pistons were down 81-80 to the Boston Celtics with 0.8 seconds remaining. In need of a miracle, Hamilton caught the pass from Prince and drained a jumper to win the game.
*On December 20, 2006 in a double-overtime game against the Charlotte Bobcats, with 0.1 of second left, David Lee of the New York Knicks scored the winning basket on a tip-in without breaking the league's so-called Trent Tucker Rule, whereby a player cannot legitimately make a field goal with less than three tenths of a second remaining on the clock. As this applies almost exclusively to jump shots, Lee's shot attempt was the first ever made with 0.1 of a second left on the game clock, post Trent Tucker Rule. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=261220018 ESPN - Charlotte vs. New York Recap, December 20, 2006 ] ]
*On March 26, 2007 the Detroit Pistons trailed the Denver Nuggets 95-98 with 1.5 seconds to play. Denver had possession at midcourt with Marcus Camby throwing the inbound pass. Tayshaun Prince was able to deflect the ball to teammate Rasheed Wallace who proceeded to hit a desperation 60-foot shot as time expired. The Pistons would go on to win the game in overtime, 113-109. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270326008 ESPN - Denver vs. Detroit Recap, March 26, 2007 ] ]
*On March 30, 2007 the Toronto Raptors were trailing the Washington Wizards 106-109 with 3.8 seconds left. Anthony Parker of the Toronto Raptors threw a pass down the court only to have it intercepted by Washington Wizard, Michael Ruffin. Thinking the time had all but run out, Ruffin threw the ball in the air only to have it fall into the hands of Raptor, Morris Peterson. Peterson quickly threw the desperation three from 31-feet out and drained it, barely beating the buzzer and tying the score at 109. The Raptors would later win overtime, 123-118. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2007033027 NBA - Toronto Raptors/Washington Wizards Recap Friday March 30, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports ] ]
*On January 29 2008, the Toronto Raptors were in a similar situation against the Washington Wizards, with the Wizards leading 95-92 with 1.3 seconds left. The Raptors rookie, Jamario Moon inbounded the ball to Anthony Parker, who released the ball beyond the arc and made the shot, tying the game, and sending it into overtime. The Wizards eventually won with a score of 108-104.

NCAA

*On March 28, 1992. In the 1992 East Regional finals, Duke forward Christian Laettner caught an 80 foot pass from Grant Hill, turned, and drained a shot from 17 feet away to give Duke a 104-103 victory. [ [http://espn.go.com/classic/s/game_of_week_duke_uk.html Laettner's buzzer-beater ended '92 classic] ]
*On January 31, 2005 Division III school Guilford College was tied 88-88 with Randolph-Macon College with Randolph-Macon shooting two free throws and 0.5 seconds on the clock. After making the first free throw to take a 89-88 lead, the second shot was a miss. Guilford player Jordan Snipes grabbed the rebound under the basket and blindly threw the ball towards the other goal. Incredibly, the shot went through the hoop, giving Guilford a 91-89 win. Amazingly, Snipes would duplicate the feat several days later on the air with the WFMY-2 local news network in Greensboro, North Carolina. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMV_gvBwL1g Video of Jordan Snipes full-court shot] ] [ [http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=31727 Player Who Made Miracle Shot Does It Again] ]

Own basket

* On January 8, 1982, Dan Roundfield of the Atlanta Hawks scored when the Milwaukee Bucks' Harvey Catchings accidentally deflected a last-second inbounds pass from the Hawks' Tom McMillen into the basket, with the Hawks winning, 90–88. By NBA rule, a shot into the own basket is credited with the scoring team's player closest to the basket. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E5DB1038F93AA35752C0A964948260 Hawks 90, Bucks 88] ]

References