During NBA All-Star Weekend, the league will honor its 75 Greatest players as it celebrates its 75th anniversary.
Such a list is always tough to assemble. So imagine how tough it would be put together a list of the NBA’s 75 greatest and most memorable moments?
There have been too many special moments to recount. But some iconic stand out as truly special. There’s Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in March 1962. There’s Dr. J’s dunks. There’s Kobe Bryant’s career finale, Gar Heard’s “Shot Heard Round the World,” LeBron James’ block that helped secure the Cavaliers’ unlikely Finals comeback and all the Michael Jordan moments. But there were also some memorable moments that the league would love to forget.
25 (of 75) greatest moments in NBA history: From LeBron’s first title to Bird’s steal to Jordan’s ‘The Shot’
25 (of 75) memorable moments in NBA history: From Heat-Knicks fight to Dream Team to Bulls’ two 3-peats
‘SHOULD WE ASK HIM TO DO IT AGAIN?’: Why this NBA moment remains my favorite 42 years later
Here’s our list of the greatest 75 moments, which will run in three sets of 25 (in random order).
No. 8 Nuggets upset No. 1 Sonics
The Nuggets finished with a 42-40 record which got them in the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. The Seattle SuperSonics, which were loaded with talent and a 63-19 record. It was the first time a No. 1 seed lost to a No. 8 seed since the NBA adopted its current playoff format in 1984. No moment from that series resonates as strongly as a crying Dikembe Mutombo falling to the Sonics’ court after Game 5, holding the ball triumphantly above his head.
Bill Russell traded from St. Louis
In 1956, the St. Louis Hawks traded No. 2 pick Bill Russell on draft night to the Celtics for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan. It was the start of the Celtics’ dynasty. Before then, the Celtics failed to advance past the second round for six straight seasons.
Jerry West’s half-court buzzer-beater in 1970
On April 1970, in the closing second of Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Knicks, West hit down a buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied the score at 102 and forced overtime. Ultimately it became one more tortured Finals West’s career. The Knicks eventually won the game 111-108 and took a 2-1 lead in the series. Years later, West would say he “still can’t believe the Lakers lost that game.”
New York embraces Linsanity
For a torrid stretch in February and March 2012 for the Knicks, Harvard grad Jeremy Lin went from relative anonymity to global superstardom. In his first five career starts, Lin scored 136 points — the most since the NBA-ABA merger — and went on to lead New York to 10 wins in 13 games. The unlikely stretch landed him on back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and a spot on Time Magazine’s list of The World’s 100 Most Influential People.
Reggie Miller’s eight points in 8.9 seconds
In Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Miller scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds to win the game for the Pacers, after trailing 105-99, with 18.7 seconds remaining. Miller had been just 1-of-5 from long distance before this flurry of points.
Prep star Darryl Dawkins enters NBA
Just three days before the 1975 NBA Draft, Dawkins decided to bypass offers from Florida State, Kansas and Kentucky and entered the draft, at the time becoming the seventh high school senior to do so. The Philadelphia 76ers selected the 6-foot-11 Dawkins with the No. 5 overall pick in the draft. He was the first player to enter the NBA immediately after high school and he languished on the bench for the first two seasons.
David Robinson wins 1994 scoring title
Shaquille O’Neal led Robinson by just .06 points per game and 33 total points entering the season finale. First up, Shaq and his Magic played against the New Jersey Nets. Shaq dominated the Nets, scoring 32 points while grabbing 22 rebounds in a 120-91 victory. Next up, it was Robinson’s turn vs. the L.A. Clippers. He and his teammates wanted the scoring title. So, when the ball was tipped on that night in April 1994, the game plan was simple: get the ball to Robinson. He scored the Spurs’ first 18 points of the game en route to a career-high 71 points.
Larry Bird’s legendary 60-point game
The 60-point game on March 12, 1985 was the Celtics’ single-game scoring record until Jayson Tatum tied it last season. Bird went 22-of-36 from the field, including just 1-of-4 from 3-point range. Bird scored 32 points over a 14-minute span in the second half. After the game — which was played at Lakefront Arena on the campus of the University of New Orleans — Hawks star Dominique Wilkins said, “The way he was shooting the ball was like living in a video game. It couldn’t be real. But it was.”
Kobe Bryant’s career finale
In the final game of his storied 20-season career, Bryant scored 60 points against the Utah Jazz and hit the winning shot with 31.6 seconds left. He scored 15 of the Lakers’ final 17 points. He outscored the Jazz, 23-21, in the fourth quarter. The performance punctuated a season-long farewell tour.
Knicks win Patrick Ewing sweepstakes
When the Knicks won the draft lottery in 1985, there was little mystery as to who they would choose as the No. 1 pick. In selecting Ewing out of Georgetown, the Knicks got a player who would largely be responsible for the renaissance of the franchise in the mid-1980’s and 1990’s and who holds every major team record. He was one of the greatest centers of his era, perhaps the greatest jump-shooting big man ever, and he won Olympic gold on the original Dream Team in 1992, was named one of the NBA’s Greatest 75 players and led the Knicks to the brink of a title in 1994.
Racial integration of NBA in 1950
Three years after Jackie Robinson became Major League Baseball’s first Black player in 1947, Chuck Cooper joined the Boston Celtics in 1950, becoming the first African American to play in the NBA. As the African American Registry once wrote, Blacks took what was once a highly mechanical and rigid game and developed it into a forum for their self-expression. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain elevated the game with their thunderous slam-dunks and graceful lay-ups. And players such as Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson introduced speed and agility to the NBA.
Steph Curry breaks all-time 3-point mark
Curry merely validated his de facto title as the NBA’s greatest-ever shooter. Just 789 games into a dazzling career, Curry surpassed Ray Allen with the 2,974th 3-pointer of his career to become the NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made. Curry’s accomplishment is all the more remarkable considering it took Allen 1,300 career games to set the previous mark.
Julius Erving’s Up & Under layup
In Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Erving turned in one of the most iconic plays in the league’s history. With 7minutes, 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Dr. J went baseline and took off toward the sky. After hanging in the air for what seemed forever, Erving contorted his body to maneuver past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, swooped his right arm around to the other side of the rim and majestically laid in a reverse layup.
Spurs win draft lottery, select Tim Duncan
Growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Duncan seemed destined to follow his sister’s footsteps into a swimming career, but he discovered basketball at the age of 14. With Duncan as their cornerstone, the Spurs would go on to win five championships and post a 1,072-438 regular season-record for a .710 winning percentage, the best 19-year stretch in NBA history. Duncan’s imprint on the franchise has few parallels in pro sports.
Hakeem Olajuwon wins back-to-back titles
Olajuwon helped the Houston Rockets become the lowest seed ever to win the 1995 NBA title. The Rockets entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. But Olajuwon averaged 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists to lead the Rockets to a sweep against Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando and their second consecutive NBA title. Critics pointed out the titles came only after Michael Jordan retired to play baseball or was working himself back into shape. After the Finals, Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said, “I have only one thing to say to those non-believers. Don’t underestimate the heart of a champion.”
NBA Finals moves to live TV
With a near-record 31 million viewers watching the 2016 NBA Finals, it may inconceivable that there were seasons even in the 1980s that the Finals were shown on tape delay. During this era, CBS did not air weeknight games in some markets live, opting to run their primetime programming and run the games after the local news. In fact, four games of the 1981 Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets were held until 11:30 p.m. ET. Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Rockets in 1986 was the last time an NBA playoff game was on tape delay.
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird enter NBA in 1979
Bird was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in 1978 after his second year at Indiana State but elected to stay in college and play one more season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season in 1978–1979. The season finished with a national championship game matchup against Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. The began their NBA careers in 1979 and together, the duo built up a rivalry between the two most storied franchises in league history. Their rivalry has largely been credited with revitalizing the NBA.
Willis Reed NBA Finals Game 7 walk-out
In Game 5 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Lakers, Reed, the Knicks center, went down with a torn thigh, forcing him to miss Game 6. With the series on the line, Reed limped down the Madison Square Garden tunnel 15 minutes before tip-off after receiving injections. It was the emotional rush the Knicks needed. Reed hit two early jump shots and boosts his teammates’ confidence and performance for their first NBA championship. The New York Post once called it the most significant moment in New York sports history.
Ray Allen’s clutch 3-pointer
Allen capped the Heat’s rally to tie the Spurs in the final 30 seconds of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals with one of his most memorable shots. Down 95-92, Chris Bosh grabbed an offensive rebound for Miami and found Allen for the tying 3 from the right corner with 5.2 seconds left. The Heat held on 103-100 in overtime to even the series before winning Game 7 on the road for their second straight championship.
Wes Unseld wins MVP, Rookie of the Year in 1969
Unseld instantly made the team then known as the Baltimore Bullets into a winning franchise after it selected him No. 2 overall in the 1968 draft. He became one of only two players to win NBA Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same season, along with Wilt Chamberlain. As a rookie, he averaged 13.8 points and 18.2 rebounds, while the team went 57-25, a 21-win improvement over the previous season and the franchise’s first winning record.
Zach LaVine-Aaron Gordon revive Slam Dunk contest
Then-Timberwolves guard LaVine and then-Orlando Magic rookie Gordon brought the long-comatose dunk contest back to life. The pair produced tit-for-tat brilliance. At one point LaVine and Gordon were given six successive perfect 50 scores by the judges – unprecedented in the competition. Two dunk-offs were needed before LaVine emerged the winner with a 50.
Jerry West named Finals MVP after Lakers fall
West is the only player in NBA history to win Finals MVP after the Lakers lost the 1969 NBA championship. West averaged 37.9 points in that series on 49% shooting from the field in the series, but the Lakers lost to Bill Russel’s Celtics in Game 7. After the loss West inconsolable, and Bill Russell held his hand and John Havlicek said, “I love you, Jerry.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s all-time great Finals
Antetokounmpo went from “International Man of Mystery” before the 2013 NBA Draft to delivering the Milwaukee Bucks their first NBA title in 50 years. In a closeout game against the Phoenix Suns, Antetokounmpo’s 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks put him in exceptionally rare company. He became the only player in league history with at least 50 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a Finals game; his 50-point game tied Bob Pettit (1958) for the most in a Finals closeout game; and he was just the seventh player in league history to have 50 in a Finals game.
Michael Jordan’s 55-point effort at MSG
In just his fifth game since coming out of retirement after an ill-fated minor-league baseball career, Jordan broke his own Madison Square Garden opponent scoring record with 55 points on 21-of-37 shooting from the field. Spike Lee would later dub the masterpiece as a “Double Nickel.” Jordan crowned the effort with a game-winning assist to Bill Wennington with 3.1 seconds left that gave the Bulls a 113-111 win.
‘Havlicek stole the ball’
One of the most iconic plays in NBA history led to one of the most iconic calls in NBA history. With five second remaining in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals and Boston clinging to a 110 – 109 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, John Havlicek tipped the inbounds pass away from Chet Walker and toward teammate Sam Jones, who dribbled out the clock as fans poured onto the court. Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most immortalized the event in his play-by-play calling that featured him shouting, “Havlicek stole the ball! It’s all over! It’s all over!”
Larry Berger, a Senior Video Producer at USA Today, also contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kobe Bryant, Willis Reed, Larry Bird part of NBA’s greatest moments
