What is the difference between the NBA Playoffs and the regular season? It’s the intensity of the game and everything that hangs in the balance with it. In such an atmosphere a game winning buzzer beater would either silence the crowd or make them bonkers, depending on where the game is being played and a player of which team shot the game winning buzzer beater.
That being said, game winners are one of the hardest thing to deal with especially for the team that just got dealt the loss. On the flip side, it takes a lot of courage and self-confidence for a player to shoot the game winner. Last weekend, three Playoff buzzer beaters in the span of the three days lifted the excitement level of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. Watch it here.
Sticking to buzzer beaters, we are going to track down the 5 best game winning buzzer beaters in the last decade of NBA Playoff basketball. The criteria for the ranking is simple and straight forward: Shot difficulty, time remaining on the shot clock and defense on the player. Here they are:
5. Kobe Bryant against the Phoenix Suns (Game 4 West First Round 2006)
After one season of hiatus from the Playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers were back in the post-season in 2006 but this time they were without their 3 time NBA Finals MVP center Shaquille O’Neal. The roster was a much younger and inexperienced one but there was one constant-Kobe Bryant.
They entered the Playoffs as underdogs in the seventh position and were set to face the Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns in the first round. However to everyone’s surprise through three games, they were leading the series 2-1. The Lakers fought hard and eventually won the game in overtime but eventually lost the next three games and the series 4-3.
Anyhow Game 4 of this series was a preview of the great things this Laker team was capable of in the coming years under Bryant. With his team trailing in regulation 90-88, Bryant was given the ball of a steal and he put in a one handed floater. He followed it up with a game winner over Raja Bell after Luke Walton had won the tip off of a jumpball with Steve Nash. Here’s the game winner:
4. Glen Davis against the Orlando Magic (Game 4 ECSF 2009)
Heading into the 2009 NBA Playoffs, Boston Celtics were the defending champions courtesy of their Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett coming together and helping the franchise win the title after 21 years in 2008.
Having said that, the C’s were entering the post-season without Garnett who was suffering from a bad knee. They just about managed to get past the Chicago Bulls by defeating them in 7 games but found it hard against big man Dwight Howad and his Orlando Magic. Although, Boston eventually lost the series in 6 games yet they would not have got that far if it wasn’t for Glen Davis, Garnett’s replacement.
In Game 4, with the ball in their hands for the last possession the Celtics needed to win or trail the Magic 3-1. On a screen and roll, Pierce passes the ball to Davis who knocks down the shot as the shot clock expires. Watch the buzzer-beater here:
3.Vince Carter against San Antonio Spurs(Game 3 NBA Playoff April 2014)
The Dallas Mavericks surged hard during the business end of the season to qualify for the Playoffs as the eighth and final team in the West. Unfortunately they were rewarded for their great play with a first round matchup against the in-form first-seeded San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, who led the league that year with a 62 win season, were everybody’s favorite to win this series.
To everyone’s surprise, the Mavericks resisted and pushed the Spurs to Game 7. In the end, San Antonio played their brand of basketball and progressed to the next round winning Game 7 comfortably. For a major part of his career, Vince Carter was popular for his monster dunks but maybe, just maybe if it wasn’t for fade away corner three in Game 3, there wouldn’t have been Game 7.
Carter gave the Mavs life and although they eventually succumbed to the their state rivals, the game winner is in top 5 for the last decade.
2. LeBron James against the Orlando Magic (Game 2 ECF 2009)
After winning the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007 and losing the Conference Finals in 2008, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were in the Conference Finals once again looking to book a NBA Finals spot. However thier job was easier said than done with their opponent the Orlando Magic being no pushovers. The Magic took Game 1 on the home court of the Cavs and led Game 2 by a point with just over a second left.
Everybody knew James was going to get the ball yet, nobody could stop him from knocking down this crazy fading three pointer for the win. The buzzer beater helped Cleveland square the series as the headed to Orlando for Games 3 and 4 but couldn’t help them win the series. The Cavaliers fell short in the Conference for the second season in a row as the Magic wrapped it up in 6 games.
While LeBron’s free agency talks took over after the series loss, his game-winner wasn’t forgotten for a long time. Here it is:
1. Damian Lillard against the Houston Rockets (Game 6 West First Round 2014)
The Portland Trailblazers hadn’t won a Playoff series since 2000. In Game 6 of their first-round match-up with the Houston Rockets, they were 2 points down with just 0.9 second left on the game clock. Given the number of fourth quarter points he had and the number of game winning buzzer beaters he had during the regular season, it didn’t take a genius to know that sophomore Damian Lillard was going to get the ball.
He navigated his way past two screens at the three point line and knocked down a fading three-pointer to send his team into the second round of the Playoffs for the first time in 14 years. There are not many cases like this but not only was his shot a game winner but it was a series clincher as the Portland eliminated Houston 4-2.
Watch the 23 years old clutch shot, its the top Playoff buzzer beater of the last 10 years:
Guess the Lakers players!
