The basketball gods work in mysterious ways.
Here’s what happened: Because it’s Holy Week, and we love the NBA, we simply put two and two together and came up with a list of the league’s seven most miraculous moments in recent memory.
See what we did there? There are seven days in a week thus, seven moments? Miracles + NBA = miraculous moments in the NBA? We know you get the idea. So, without further ado, let’s do this.
We Believe Warriors
During the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the number one seed Dallas Mavericks were poised to win it all. They lost the previous NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, and seemed to have come back stronger after finishing with the best record in the league. But they ran into a defiant eighth-seeded squad in the Golden State Warriors led by Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson. Dubbed as the We Believe Warriors, the underdogs pulled off the monumental upset in six games.
Tracy McGrady’s 13 points in 33 seconds
It was a regular season game in 2004 between T-Mac’s Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs. The only way for H-town to pull off the win was if the high-scoring forward would be able to score 13 points in 33 seconds. And he did just that by hitting four contested threes, including a filthy and-1 and a cold-blooded game-winner.
Robert Horry’s ultimate dagger
Big Shot Bob is a dependable role player who turns into a miracle man come playoff time. Arguably, his best work came at the very last second of Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. The Purple and Gold was trailing all throughout the match and was about to go down 3-1 in the series. That is until the ball found its way into the shooting pocket of Horry, who immediately swished the game-winning three. That shot off a tap from Kings center Vlade Divac, who thought time was going to expire, practically saved the Lakers’ dynasty.
Mamba out
In Kobe’s farewell season, he was clearly a shell of his former self. The legs were gone, and he just could no longer activate Mamba mode as he pleased. But in his final NBA game against the Utah Jazz in 2016, the basketball gods gave Bryant his powers back one last time. Dropping 60 points in a tight win for the Lakers, the five-time champion gave the sporting world another performance to remember.
LeBron delivers one for the Land
While LeBron James has a penchant for making history, the odds were really stacked against him in the 2016 NBA Finals when his team faced a 3-1 series deficit against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. But the stars aligned for The King as he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an unprecedented comeback. Culminating in a chasedown block for the ages courtesy of the Chosen One, and a dagger three from Kyrie Irving, the city of Cleveland got its first major championship in professional sports since 1964.
Derek Fisher's 0.4 game-winner
It happened during the 2004 NBA Western Conference Semifinals featuring the Lakers versus the Spurs. In the waning moments, Tim Duncan drained a tough jumper from the top of the key to give his squad a one-point lead while leaving 0.4 second on the game clock. Back then, no one really knew what was possible with that little amount of time left. But hey, Derek Fisher proved that miracles can happen in blink of an eye. If it’s any consolation for Spurs fans, the Lakers went on to lose in the NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons.
The greatest three-point shot in NBA history
Many Miami Heat fans have already left the building in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. Preparations were already being made for a Spurs celebration on the Heat’s home floor. But the game was not yet done. Down three with 10 seconds left, LeBron missed a three-point attempt. But without Duncan on the floor, Miami’s Chris Bosh was able secure an offensive rebound before handing the ball to Ray Allen. The quintessential marksman then retreated behind the line to sink a game-tying long bomb from the corner.
In overtime, the energy was sapped out of Gregg Popovich’s wards by the sudden turn of events. The Heat took the W and carried the momentum into Game 7.
How fitting is it that the last item on this list came from guy called Jesus Shuttlesworth?