The NBA Playoffs are filled with moments like buzzer beaters, incredible blocks, and franchise changing plays. However, many times we overlook plays as just plays – individual moments in the context of a single game – and not for what they do to affect a series or an outcome for an organization.
A missed shot, an injury, an unfortunate call by the refs, or even a shot early in the first half could start a trend and be a harbinger of franchise success or futility. Only after some time has passed can we even start to contextualize a moment.
We’ve compiled some of the most underrated and undervalued plays in recent playoff memory, along with their value to their teams’ long-term success.
Draymond Green’s Suspension
Everyone still remembers last year’s Finals where the Golden State Warriors were up 3-1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and subsequently lost to the Cavs in seven games. Well a historically improbable event happened when Draymond Green acquired his fourth flagrant foul of the postseason, which landed him an automatic suspension. In what the NBA called a “retaliatory swipe of his hand to the groin” of James, this pivotal moment in the playoffs potentially cost the Warriors an NBA Finals victory in Game 5, and kept them from their quest at becoming arguably the greatest team in NBA history.
Perhaps Golden State can recover with the addition of Kevin Durant and how incredibly talented this year’s version of the team is, but this could be the difference maker in a stake on the Mount Rushmore of basketball for a player like Steph Curry.
Robert Horry’s “Hip-Check”
In game four of the 2007 NBA playoffs with roughly 13 seconds to go, Steve Nash was hip checked by Robert Horry into the scorer’s table. After the hard foul, Horry was ejected, but Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw left the bench and ended up being suspended for the next game, which put the Suns’ in a terrible situation.
However, even worse, as Amin Elhassan of ESPN (who was in the Suns front office in 2007) illustrates, the Suns felt that Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan did the same thing as Diaw and Stoudamire. The Suns would submit a claim for it to the NBA but were ultimately denied. Phoenix ended up losing the series to San Antonio and it probably cost them that series, and potentially a title that year.
Damian Lillard’s Shot Against Houston
With the Blazers up three games to two and having their last game at home before seemingly heading to Houston for game seven, Lillard pulled the unthinkable. With 0.9 seconds left, Portland inbounded the ball to Dame and he made one of the more impressive game winners in playoff history. But, not only did that net the Blazers their first round-one playoff series win in over 14 years, it also sent a message to the front office that Lillard would be their franchise player to build around.
In the years after that shot, they’ve made the postseason every single season even despite the fact that they’d lost four of five starters the next offseason. In turn, this changed the Portland Trail Blazers short-term and long-term plans and really transformed an organization that hadn’t had any recent playoff success.
Dirk Nowitzki’s Pass Around 3 Defenders
Game two of the 2011 NBA Finals was Miami’s to lose. Up 15 points with a little over six minutes remaining in the game, Dirk Nowitzki was occupying the post and was guarded by three (and almost four) players on the Heat. This was the moment you sat back and realized if Nowitzki turns the ball over, this game was probably over.
However, even being out of space and time, Nowitzki was able to get a pass to an open Jason Terry. This started an incredible comeback which resulted in the Mavericks stealing home court. In the subsequent games, Terry and Nowitzki would partner to form one of the most dynamic duos in Finals history, resulting in an unprecedented championship win. The play that started it all, a simple looking pass from the Mavericks most decorated player – and a future Hall of Famer.
Ray Allen’s Irregular Pass
In the 2008 NBA Finals, you had the big three of Boston playing the L.A. Lakers. Up until game four, the series was ran by home court advantage where Boston was leading the series at two games to one. Game four in L.A. looked all but done in the early second quarter as the Lakers were up by 24. Boston looked disengaged and the Lakers were firing on all cylinders. However, with about four minutes left in the second quarter, Ray Allen looked as though he’d thought about a shot, and then proceeded to pass the ball into Kevin Garnett so he wouldn’t travel.
Kevin Garnett then grabs the ball and produces one of the more unexpected passes to Rajon Rondo who passes a baseline pass to James Posey for a wide open three. This play erupted the Celtics bench and completely changed the outcome of the game. They ended up completing the comeback and it would shift what everyone expected to be a seven-game series into six games.
Stackhouse’s Suspension
The Dallas Mavericks were up 2-0 to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals. Going back to Miami, Dallas looked in good shape to at least steal one, if not two, of the away games. However, they proceeded to lose both in Miami. It wasn’t just that they lost both games, they also lost Jerry Stackhouse because of a hard foul on Shaquille O’Neal, suspending him for the next pivotal game.
Stackhouse was arguably the Mavericks’ second best player and had a number of decisive plays that changed or altered the outcomes of games one and two. But, because of the suspension, his team would not only lose the two away games, they’d also lose game five at home.
LeBron’s Chicago Miracle
King James goes back to Cleveland, does the dance, gets into the playoffs … and then? He falls 2-1 down to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. As the media started clamoring once again around the idea that LeBron wasn’t a winner, it looked as though they’d be right. That was until literally the last play of the game in Game 4 where James went against Coach David Blatt’s plan and took the final shot himself.
Thankfully, the shot went in and his Cavs would go on to steal home court back from the Bulls, eventually winning the series. This proved to be a defining moment in James’ return to Cleveland, as it silenced the critics and really signaled some internal struggles between Blatt and James, leading to the eventual ousting of Blatt midseason of the following year for Tyronn Lue.
Rodman’s Benching
In remembering Hakeem Olajuwon’s unstoppable 1995 playoffs, Dennis Rodman’s benching in game five was a crucial part of Houston’s victory and Olajuwon’s success. Rodman was late for practice the day before game five, and he also reportedly showed up to the locker room late the evening of the game as well. He claimed to be under the weather, but it was enough for coach Bob Hill to make the call to bench him for the start of the game. The Rockets would pounce on the opportunity and take over the hard fought series.
“We knew it was over then,” Kenny Smith told DIME after Rodman was left out of the starting lineup for game five. “You have to pay so much attention to detail that if you’re worried about things like that, and your team isn’t unified, we knew right then we were going to win that series.”
The Rockets went on to win the series after being down 0-2, and Olajuwon’s incredible playoffs continued because of the Rodman benching. He finished the series averaging 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, five assists, and 4.2 blocks.
Sam Cassell’s Eight Second Violation
In the 2006 NBA playoffs, Sam Cassell of the L.A. Clippers would be called for an eight-second violation in a tied 101-101 game against the Phoenix Suns with about 30 seconds remaining. The more memorable part of the play was that Cassell was actually smiling while dribbling the ball up the court. That is, until the referee called an eight-second violation on him. He acted like he didn’t know what he’d done, but the damage was already caused.
The Clippers lost this crucial game five and the Suns won the seven-game series. A remarkable turn of events, and one of the strangest moments in Playoffs history, highlighting one of the league’s most unused calls.
Larry Bird’s Steal
The great Boston and Detroit rivalry was one of the best of its time and this game from the 1987 series was no different. With Boston down one point with fewer than ten seconds to go, Larry Legend stole an inbound pass in the backcourt of the Detroit Pistons and improvised a quick pass to Dennis Johnson for a game-winning layup. Not only was the steal and pass incredibly difficult, the odds of it happening at the end of the game were unthinkable.
This game turned out to be the difference maker in the series, sending Boston to the NBA Championship for yet another season.
Tayshaun Prince’s Block Against Indiana
In 2004, the Pacers and Pistons faced off in one of the better defensive series that we’ve ever seen. With the Pacers up 1-0 and at home for game two, the Pistons needed to steal home court in order to get a cushion coming back to the Palace. With about 20 seconds remaining in the game, Prince pulled off one of most athletic and unanticipated blocks of all time.
At the time of the block, Detroit was up by two, and the Reggie Miller layup would’ve tied the game. However, thanks to Prince, Detroit held on to win game two, and eventually rode that to an NBA Championship.
Stephen Curry’s Playoff Awakening
In 2014, the Warriors weren’t the same Warriors. They were in their first playoff series with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, playing against the experienced leadership of Chris Paul and company. In game seven of the round one matchup, Curry dropped 33 points but still lost the series. With about 4 seconds remaining, Curry hit what we now know as the prototypical Warriors-run building three-pointer. It was a little too late for them in 2014, as they ended up getting bounced. But, Curry and company took it to heart and ended up NBA Champions just one season later.
Without the loss, who knows if the Warriors become what we know them as today.
LeBron’s Block
We all have seen Kyrie Irving’s game winner so many times by now it’s become iconic. And it’s already found a way to overshadow an equally impressive moment from The King. Who could forget his block from last year’s incredible 3-1 deficit comeback? The literal poster moment of the Finals was clearly when James came from out of nowhere to block a shot that had already looked destined to hit at least the backboard.
However, King James imposed his will with every muscle in his body to come up with one of more impressive blocks you’ll ever see, changing the atmosphere of an already scared Golden State crowd. This helped Cleveland steal the Larry O’Brien trophy and win its first NBA Championship. Millions of “Warriors blew a 3-1 lead” jokes soon followed.
Ray Allen’s Three-Pointer
The Miami Heat were in danger of losing two NBA titles in three seasons, even with the big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. After already losing to the Mavericks in 2011, two seasons later it looked as though the Spurs would take game six of the NBA Finals to finish off the Heat already up 3-2 in the series and 95-92 in the game with less than 13 seconds left.
A missed James three-pointer produced a lucky bounce and a timely offensive rebound and pass by Chris Bosh to Ray Allen. Allen did what he does best: knock down insanely difficult shots with relative ease. The rest of the series was history. Without this shot, who knows if the Heat get another title, or if LeBron even comes home to Cleveland.
