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It's been 26 years since Sean Elliott tip-toed the sideline for a high-arcing shot over an airborne Rasheed Wallace in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. Given its overall significance, there's little doubt the “Memorial Day Miracle' ranks among the biggest shots in San Antonio Spurs history. Where exactly does it rank, though?
Examining the five biggest shots in the organization's proud history, it's important to note that this list consists of singular shots. So, for example, Steve Kerr's 3-point barrage in the clinching Game 6 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals at the Dallas Mavericks won't make the cut. Also, because the Spurs have won five championships – and all within 15 years – each of the shots outlined below helped lead to titles. Fair or not, that's a legitimate standard concerning a franchise that's enjoyed so much success.
5. Tim Duncan on Shaquille O'Neal in 2003
Because the first three shots on this list will be no-brainers – especially for Spurs fans – shot number five is a bit of a head-turner. Tim Duncan's 3-pointer in the 2008 First Round that sent Game 1 vs. the Phoenix Suns into overtime could be here. So could Manu Ginobili's game-winner that came later in that same contest. Tony Parker's frenzied banker to seal Game 1 of the 2013 Finals at the Miami Heat also deserves consideration. But San Antonio didn't celebrate the Larry O'Brien trophy either of those years.
With 3:43 left in the third quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals in Los Angeles, Tim Duncan got Shaquille O'Neal outside the right block. He made a move before backing down the man regarded as the best center of his generation. Duncan then faked to his left and, upon getting Shaq moving, came back with an up-and-under on the right for a sequence O'Neal was powerless to stop. It put the Spurs on top 70-64.
What was so spectacular about it?
Nothing in the moment. It would simply prove symbolic.
It was the first field goal in a stretch that saw the Silver and Black outscore the Los Angeles Lakers 44-18 en route to an eventual 28-point rout. The Lakers' run as three-time defending champions didn't just end that night; it came crashing down. Duncan scored 37 points and grabbed 16 rebounds on the way to a championship that kick-started another reign. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili eventually became the winningest trio in NBA history.
There have been many more dramatic shots in Spurs history. In hindsight, few have been more prophetic.
4. Tim Duncan in the 2014 WCF Game 6
A Ginobili 3-pointer with 27.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter of this game could qualify here as well. It put the Spurs up one in Game 6 of the 2014 Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game eventually went into overtime.
In the extra period, up just one point against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and squad that had advanced to the Finals two years before and would again knock off the Spurs in 2016, San Antonio went to Duncan. The greatest power forward of all time faded away. His trademark banker bounced and rolled around the rim before falling through the net with under 0:20 to go. With it, the Spurs clinched a spot in their sixth NBA Finals, where they'd dismantle a LeBron James-led Heat organization that was looking to three-peat.
Their first title since 2007, the 2014 banner would represent the end of the Spurs' championship run.
3. Avery Johnson in the 1999 NBA Finals Game 5
Down by a point with a minute left in a game that could deliver their first ever championship, and with both Duncan and future Hall of Fame David Robinson on the floor, the ball made its way to Avery Johnson in a shooter's spot.
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The point guard who'd started his career as a journeyman before settling in with the Spurs didn't hesitate when the New York Knicks left him wide open in the right corner. He swished a jumper with 0:47 remaining. They would prove the last two points of the 1999 NBA season.
The shot served as a culmination that saw those Spurs go 46-7 from the second month of a strike-shortened season through Game 5 of the Finals. In the playoffs, they beat Kevin Garnett, then swept the O'Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers in the second round on the way to a title that's viewed as the start to one of the greatest runs in league history.
2. Robert Horry in the 2005 NBA Finals Game 5
In the first competitive game of a series that pitted the defending champion Detroit Pistons and a recent two-time champ, Robert Horry rattled in a dramatic 3-pointer off an inbound touch that put the Spurs up one with 5.9 seconds left in overtime. It capped a legendary performance in which one of the great clutch players in league history scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and the extra period.
If Horry's shot hadn't gone down and had the Pistons held on for a 95-93 win that night, they would've headed back to the Alamo City with two chance for one win and a repeat after having broken apart the O'Neal/Bryant/Karl Malone/Gary Payton Lakers the summer before. As it is, they beat the Spurs in that ensuing Game 6 after dominating them by an average victory margin of 24 points in Games 3 and 4.
Instead, the Spurs “Big 3” won their second of our four titles together in Game 7 and the 2005 Spurs are regarded as potentially the most talented version in their history given that Duncan, Ginobili and Parker were all in or near their primes while Horry, All-NBA defender Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry and an older Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson were on the squad.
1. Sean Elliott in the 1999 WCF Game 2
The Memorial Day Miracle was more than a shot: it was a statement.
The league would get it later. The citizens of San Antonio heard it right there and then.
Elliott's 3-pointer to complete an 18-point comeback against a very talented Portland Trailblazers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals put Spurs fans on notice that that year would finally be different. It's a message the Spurs would finish less than a month later at Madison Square Garden. The franchise made the playoffs in all but four of their previous 25 seasons since moving to South Texas, yet, while several of those postseason runs showed promise, none produced a moment that remotely came close to what happened on May 31, 1999, in the Alamodome.
The Memorial Day Miracle exorcised the demons that came with continuous postseason shortcomings despite talented teams of the years past. It also set the stage for the completion of a sweep, which in turn, proved a precursor of what was to come over the next two decades.
Since then, a flurry of highlights and images have not only flooded the annals of the San Antonio Spurs but have doubled as some of the NBA's most notable moments. That's for another list. Because the Memorial Day Miracle ends this one.
