Players Behind NBA Playoffs' Most Memorable Moments: Where Are They Now?
The NBA playoffs have a way of creating iconic moments, the sounds of which echo through the ages, the sights etched into our memories forever.
There are many such moments, from “Havlicek stole the ball!” to Derek Fisher running out of the tunnel in San Antonio, index finger pointed to the sky, after his incredible buzzer-beater.
Sure, part of the magic of these moments is owed to the athletes involved, but the stakes are what make a last-second steal or a buzzer-beater in the playoffs more memorable than the same occurrence during a mid-January weekend matinee.
They can serve to elevate an ordinary player to stardom or canonize an already dominant one.
But perhaps just as important as the circumstances surrounding these incredible moments in time are the subsequent fates of those involved.
Here we look at seven iconic moments from NBA playoff lore and examine how the careers and lives of the men in those photographs changed from that moment on.
“Havlicek Stole the Ball!”
As famous a sports radio call as has ever been made came from the lips of legendary Celtics play-by-play man Johnny Most after Boston guard/forward John Havlicek effectively ended Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference finals.
With just seconds remaining and the Celtics nursing a 110-109 lead, Havlicek was guarding Philadelphia forward Chet Walker near the top of the key. As 76ers Hall of Fame guard Hal Greer attempted to inbound to Walker, Havlicek tipped the ball to teammate K.C. Jones, who dribbled out the waning seconds of the series.
Havlicek is most readily recognized (at least outside of Boston proper) for this one play in his 16-year career, all with the Celtics. He leads the franchise in multiple categories, most notably scoring, where his 26,395 points put him ahead of the still-active Paul Pierce, as well as successors Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale, in that order.
At the time of his retirement in 1978, he was third in all-time scoring in the NBA, second in minutes and first in games played. His jersey was immediately retired at Boston Garden, and six years later he earned a place in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Since then, he has been named to numerous all-time-best lists, including the NBA’s all-time 50 greatest players.
In keeping with his stoic, humble style, "Hondo" has since distanced himself from the game and the franchise, popping up from time to time at a practice or a game.
“The Shot”
Even the savvy fans who know who the man in the background of this iconic Michael Jordan celebration usually only remember him for falling to the floor in disgust after His Airness ended the 1989 first-round series between the Bulls and the Cavaliers.
Never mind the fact he was right in the middle of what turned out to be a 14-year NBA run with the Rockets, Cavaliers, Hawks and SuperSonics. He played in 873 games, starting 321 of them, and scoring 7,492 points.
On that May night at the Richfield Coliseum, the dominant narrative for both men was established: Jordan as the greatest clutch performer in the history of the NBA, if not all of American sport, and Ehlo as one in a long line of his victims. The shot, game and series (in which the Bulls were the upstart No. 6 seed to the Cavaliers’ No. 3 seed) is widely considered to signal the arrival of Jordan’s Bulls.
After retiring from the NBA in 1997, Ehlo settled in Spokane, Wash. He spent four years broadcasting Seattle SuperSonics games as a color analyst until the team moved in 2008 and also broadcasted Gonzaga's men’s basketball games. He is currently in his second year as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at nearby Eastern Washington University.
John Starks Posterizes Horace Grant
From the “you had to see it to believe it” file comes this jam from Knicks guard John Starks over Bulls forward Horace Grant (mostly) and Michael Jordan (in the general vicinity).
The dunk closed out Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference finals and put the Knicks up 2-0 in the series over the two-time defending champions. The Bulls went on to win four straight in the series, before dispatching the Suns in the NBA Finals to complete their first three-peat.
What gives this moment legs (and perhaps still gives Grant chills) is what it represented: Starks, the diminutive “every-man” guard dunking over the 6'10", truculent former ACC Player of the Year and 10th overall draft pick struck a blow for the little guy in a game dominated at the time by size and physicality.
Both made their lone All-Star teams in 1994, the season following their encounter at the rim. Their teams met again the next year in the second round, a series the Knicks won in seven games, with Grant shouldering the scoring load with Scottie Pippen following Jordan’s first retirement.
Grant went on to play another nine fine seasons, winning one more title playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal with the Lakers in 2001. Then-coach Doc Rivers also infamously cut him from the Magic in 2002. He currently coaches girls basketball at Mission Prep High School in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
After losing his starting spot on the Knicks to Allan Houston in 1996, Starks was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, his lone season-long NBA accolade. He currently works for the Knicks, both providing analysis during telecasts and working with community outreach.
Alonzo Mourning-Larry Johnson Fight (or, Jeff Van Gundy Hangs On)
The 1990s NBA was a wild and woolly place populated with colorful characters (literally, in the case of Dennis Rodman) and featuring a rough-and-tumble style of play, especially in the Eastern Conference. Two men who helped to define that mindset were big men Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.
And they had a history.
Their feud began when Mourning was drafted second overall in 1992 by the Charlotte Hornets to play a position Johnson already occupied, and the two never got along.
After trading barbs as teammates and opponents for six years, it came to a head during Game 4 of an opening-round series between Johnson’s Knicks and Mourning’s Heat. Mourning took issue with the mauling he was getting from Johnson in the closing seconds and took a swipe at him, starting a melee.
The moment is most memorable for the image of Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, dwarfed by the players on the floor, hanging on to Mourning’s left shin for dear life. Both players were suspended for two games (the Knicks won the series in a decisive fifth game), and Van Gundy has endured years of ridicule for his part.
Mourning completed his storied career in 2008 with seven All-Star appearances, a championship (2006 with Miami) and numerous defensive accolades stemming from his shot-blocking presence.
Back injuries forced Johnson to retire in 2001, but he has since returned to the team in a player development role.
Van Gundy can be heard calling NBA games on ESPN’s No. 1 broadcast team.
The "Push-Off”
The same way his series-ending shot over Craig Ehlo established Michael Jordan’s NBA playoff reputation (and the Bulls’ dynasty), this shot cemented his legacy. In one of the most-watched basketball games ever, Jordan sank a shot over Bryon Russell near the top of the key with 5.2 seconds to go in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.
When John Stockton (one of five Hall of Famers to play in the series) missed a potential game-winning three-pointer moments later, the Bulls had their sixth ring in eight years.
The shot lives on not only because of the gravity of the situation, but also due to the controversy surrounding it. Many feel that Jordan pushed off on the play—a notion Russell shrugged off years later, telling the New York Daily News, “Whether he pushed off or not, he was making that shot.”
Jordan retired for a second time following the game, as did Phil Jackson, ending the Bulls dynasty.
Russell left the Jazz in 2002 and played with Jordan with the Wizards in 2002-03 during Jordan’s final NBA season. Russell then bounced around the league with stints with the Lakers and Nuggets before returning to Southern California to play in several semi-pro leagues.
“0.4”
Late-game execution doesn’t get any better.
Before Derek Fisher hit his famous catch-and-shoot with the bare-minimum amount of time remaining in Game 5 of this 2004 Western Conference semifinals series, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan had already pulled off incredible shots that, had Fisher not hit his, might be discussed at greater length in this space.
So it was, though: Fisher got the ball, turned and fired in desperation over Manu Ginobili, sending gasps throughout the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Or maybe they were out of breath from the previous daggers.
Perhaps more memorable than the image of the actual shot was that of Fisher sprinting through the tunnel toward the locker room, index finger pointed toward the sky in a moment of unbridled joy.
Nine years later, Fisher and Ginobili are still in the league (as are Bryant, Duncan and a handful of others from that series) and appear primed for deep playoff runs this year.
