And if at the end of a match, at the end of the regulation 48 minutes, we added a little more than an extra half-time? This is exactly the scenario of the meeting between the Bucks and the Sonics of November 9, 1989.
Both teams extended the fun for five overtimes and 25 minutes! Finally, the pleasure was especially for the spectators. Because for some players, these 73 minutes had a bitter taste.
“I don’t remember anything except thinking, at the time, ‘Damn, somebody hit or miss a shot and please end this stupid game'”says Randy Breuer, Milwaukee backup center.
It would be useless to detail this meeting. We can simply give the evolution of the score: 103 everywhere at the end of regulation time, then 110-110, 120-120, 127-127 and 138-138 at the start of the fifth extension.
So how did this crazy encounter end? By a 9-0 Bucks, 146 all and 1:10 from the end. There are then 34 seconds to play, with still energy in the tank, the Sonics pass an 8-0. Too short…
A notable absentee: Shawn Kemp
Missed free throws, especially by Xavier McDaniel, and intense fatigue will eventually provide an outcome to this legendary match, won 155-154 by the Bucks.
“It was so exhausting”remembers Dale Ellis, 53 points for Seattle and especially 69 minutes (NBA record). “In one of the last overtime, I stole a ball and went to the circle. I had a layup to kill the game but Alvin Robertson came back and blocked me. He was cooler than me. I was cooked. »
Bernie Bickerstaff, the coach of the Sonics, had deprived himself of a rotation that evening: the young Shawn Kemp, who had just arrived in the NBA directly from high school. The rookie, future All-Star, had played all the matches of his first year. Except this one, the most memorable. Wound ? Punishment ? No one knows why…
With its five extensions, this meeting in any case immediately enters the list of the longest matches in history. Not since the introduction of the 24-second clock in 1954 have two teams played for so long. And 33 years later, a game with five extensions is still long overdue, even if the Nuggets and the Blazers, in the 2019 playoffs, were not far from achieving such a feat.
The absolute record for the longest game in NBA history still remains this Olympians victory over the Royals (75-73) in January 1951, after six overtime.
