If the 3-point line had existed in 1970, this shot by Jerry West would have been one of the most legendary victory baskets in NBA history. A buzzer in the Finals of almost twenty meters…
Game 3 of the 1970 Finals between the Knicks and Lakers. The two teams are tied and the series lands in Los Angeles. Jerry WestWilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor dominate the first half, but Walt Frazier, Willis Reed and their teammates return to the game with a big last quarter.
There are 13 seconds left and the score is 100 everywhere. Walt Frazier finds Dave DeBusschere, who scores a basket from mid-range. The Lakers then have three seconds to move up the field and try to snatch an extension.
A legendary shoot, which is “worth nothing”
Wilt Chamberlain makes the throw-in (while still partly on the field…) towards West. The guard takes three dribbles and sends a prayer from almost twenty meters. And it's in! 102 everywhere, since the 3-point line is not yet established…
Unfortunately, this shot did not stop the momentum of the Knicks, who took advantage of West's clumsiness (five missed shots in overtime) to win 108-111, somewhat breaking the legend of this improbable shot.
“This shoot is worthless”will even estimate Jerry West in a statement reported by Roland Lazenby in his biography Jerry West, The Life And The Legend of a Basketball Iconpublished in 2009. “Later, as soon as I was told about it, I had to remind everyone that we had lost the match. »
And especially the Finals, since New York will win in a Game 7 that remains famous. For Jerry West, the first Finals MVP in history in 1969, and still the only one to have received this trophy when his team had not won the title, it was his seventh defeat at this level of the competition and the third in a row. Finally, he would be crowned in 1972, against the same Knicks.
