BOSTON - There was chaos on the court. John Havlicek had just made a floating jumper at the free-throw line to put the Boston Celtics ahead, 111-110, near the end of the second overtime. The clock showed zeros, but the referees - and the Phoenix Suns - knew that it should show 1 second left. The fans didn't realize that, and they were storming the court, celebrating an apparent victory.
While the referees were battling with the fans - literally in one instance - and trying to get the Celtics back onto the court, Paul Westphal was thinking. Down by one, with one second left, inbounding the ball under their own basket - things didn't look good. Plus, the Suns were out of time outs, so they couldn't advance the ball to midcourt. Or could they? The punishment for an illegal time out was a technical foul, which meant one free throw for opponents. But Westphal knew that in that instance, the Suns would still be able to advance the ball. So he took the illegal time out.
The fans cleared out, finally, resigned to ringing the court in anticipation of the actual final horn. With the Celtics brought back from the locker room, Jo-Jo White made the free throw to make it a two-point game. Then the Suns inbounded the ball, and Gar Heard made an improbable turnaround jumper from the free-throw line. A third overtime loomed.
The drama at the end of the second overtime was just part of what made Game 5 of the 1976 NBA finals one of the best NBA games ever played. You had the Suns overcoming what was at one point a 22-point deficit to send the game to overtime. You had the referees miss - or ignore - an illegal timeout call by the Celtics at the end of regulation. You had questionable clock timing on a shot by Havlicek near the end of the first overtime. And you had the Suns scoring four points in the span of five seconds to take the lead in the second overtime, setting the stage for the drama at the end of that period.
Despite the game going to three overtimes, the Suns only held the lead three times all game, all three times by a single point. The Celtics just couldn't put them away, at least not until they jumped to a six-point lead late in the third overtime. Still, the Suns didn't go easily, cutting the lead to 128-126, but they couldn't get the ball back for that one final shot. The Celtics won the game to take the lead, 3 games to 2, and eventually won the title in Game 6 in Phoenix.
This video shows the dramatic end of the second overtime, from Havlicek's shot to Heard's shot. White's free throw was cut out, but the drama of the moment is still evident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjfiud6e2M
HONORABLE MENTION
June 4, 1987: MADRID - It had been nearly 10 years, 122 straight races, since Edwin Moses had been beaten in the 400-meter hurdles. During the streak, he broke his own world record two times and won three World Cups, two World Championships, and one Olympic gold medal. But it couldn't last forever. Nine years, nine months, and nine days after he was last beaten, Moses was beaten by fellow American Danny Harris, ending the most impressive streak in track-and-field history.
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