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Memorial Day Miracle.
The Duncan 3 was way cooler, but Elliott's shot was much much more valuable looking back at the end result of the seasons.
And Elliott's shot was a game-winner, while Duncan's was to tie the game.
Written by Jeff Garcia
Monday, 10 August 2009 00:00
Throughout the Spurs history, Spurs fans have been treated to many memorable shots. Spurs fans seen Tony Parker hit game winning shots, Manu's clutch shooting and Roger Mason's heroics this past season. But two shots are heads above the rest and are etched in Spurs fans minds: Sean Elliott's "Memorial Day Miracle" against the Blazers in the 1999 NBA Playoffs and Tim Duncan's "3" against the Suns in the 2008 NBA Playoffs.
Both worthy of legendary status but which was the bigger shot? Let's take a look at the "tale of the tape" and you decide.
The Memorial Day Miracle
May 31, 1999. Memorial Day. San Antonio. 1999 NBA Playoffs Game 2 Western Conference Semifinals, Spurs vs. Blazers in the Alamodome.
It was late in the fourth quarter and the Spurs battled their way out of an 18 point deficit to bring the score 83-85 Blazers leading, with 12 seconds left in the game. Mario Elie inbounds the ball to Sean Elliott, who was tip-toeing the corner sideline. The ball barely clearing the outstretch hands of Stacy Augmon, Elliott catches the ball, heels never touching the floor though they were out of bounds, Rasheed Wallace leaping to try to block the shot, Elliott launches a "3" over Wallace, and makes it! Spurs take their first lead with 9 seconds left and go on to win the game, 86-85, taking a 2-0 lead over the Blazers.
Points to consider:
Elliott, though heels were out of bounds, never touched the floor
Elliott was known to hit the "3" thus making it more likely he would make it
Elliott had to shoot over Wallace
Spurs were down by 18 points heading into the final quarter
The shot devastated the Blazers moral and got swept by the Spurs
Tim Duncan's "3"
April 19, 2008. San Antonio. 2008 NBA Playoffs Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round in the AT&T Center.
This game was already epic and was in overtime. Just as in the "Memorial Day Miracle", the Spurs were down with 12 seconds left in overtime. Score was 104-101. Manu had the ball, used a screen from Duncan for what looked like a shot at the rim. Instead, Duncan had drifted to the 3-point line, Manu passed the ball out to Duncan with 6 seconds left, with no one around him, he lines up for a three, releases and makes it! This ties the game, sending it to double-OT where the Spurs won and dismissed the Suns out of the playoffs yet again winning the series 4-1.
Points to consider:
Duncan is not known for 3-range thus making the shot more improbable
Duncan's last 3-pointer was March 28, 2007
The game was already in OT, sending it to double-OT
The Spurs were down as much as 16 points
The shot crushed the moral of the Suns and they never recovered
Duncan was 0-4 from 3-point line during the 2008 regular season.
http://projectspurs.com/2009-article...he-qtd-3q.html
Memorial Day Miracle.
The Duncan 3 was way cooler, but Elliott's shot was much much more valuable looking back at the end result of the seasons.
And Elliott's shot was a game-winner, while Duncan's was to tie the game.
It's tough to decide between the two great shots. I like TD's 3 better because I was a witness.
Earth to the author:
Point to consider:
1) Elliott's shot was over a running Rasheed Wallace, and barely cleared the valiant shotblock attempt.
2) The Spurs came back from 18 down.
3) The MDM crushed the Blazers so badly they put up one of the worst showings in NBA history in game 3 back in Portland.
it has to be the MDM, as for:
- it was the way more difficult shot...the TD3 was basically only difficult, coz timmy isnt known for 3pt shooting (but he did it at the shooting stars earier the season too)
- it finaly gave us the first ship, while the TD3 earned us not much in the ending
its closer between MDM and the Horry 3 in the finals, butI still have to go with the MDM, as Horry was wide open
Yeah, I'd say if Spurs fans are going to have any debate about which shot was more important to the franchise, the Duncan three pointer isn't even in the top 5 list. Duncan's 3 is about as important as that three that Brent Barry hit in 2006 to force OT against Sacramento. You know, the one that bounced off the backboard like 86 times and no one talks about anymore?
The MDM is far and away the most important shot in Spurs franchise history. If you weren't a hardcore Spurs fan back then, it's just a clutch shot that Elliott hit. But if you can remember a world where you were scared when the Spurs had to play the Jazz, or can still see the scars from when you slit your wrists after the Spurs choked against Houston in 1995, then you know what I'm talking about. It's hard for Duncan-era Spurs fan to appreciate the MDM because the Spurs have four championships now, and from a nostalgia standpoint, that shot is relegated to "just a clutch shot that Elliott hit" now that we have three other playoff runs that resulted in a championship which each had their own "Back the off!" moment.
Think of it as a football analogy. The Spurs are going into the Super Bowl as three point dogs to a team that everyone says they can beat, but just don't trust in their ability to close the deal. At halftime the Spurs are down by two touchdowns. Their defense tightens up and they're able to stop the other team and tie the game. With a few seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter and the game still tied, the other team lines up to kick a 20 yard field goal for the win. Instead, the Spurs catch the other team off guard and hit the gaps at the line of scrimmage, making the holder fumble the ball and the defense runs it to the house for a game winning touchdown. That's what the MDM was like to those of us who were bleeding silver and black in 1999.
The real debate would be Horry's F bomb and the MDM. I would go with the MDM but damn the Fbomb is close.
I tend to agree with most of the posters here. Duncan's three was badassery at its finest but it just wasn't as season changing, career defining, or momentum shifting as the MDM and Horry's F bomb.
Sean Elliott's 3 was arguably the most pivotal moment in franchise history. Not only did it mark the beginning of the Tim Duncan era. It changed Sean's legacy as a sometimes soft player who could disappear in the playoffs to one of the most clutch players in Spurs history. Not many people remember that Sean was once criticized as never living up to his potential, until that moment. It also cemented the 99 squad as one of the toughest NBA champions in league history.
That moment was just a revelation to most spurs fans, it was the moment that the 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93,.... seasons ceased to haunt the Spurs and their fans.
Not only that but the game just played out so much like a textbook Spurs playoff loss. At no point until that shot did it look like the Spurs were actually going to win the game. With the obvious loss the first championship was fading right before our eyes, because it looked like Duncan was neutralized by Rasheed, and that the Blazers would just out gun the Spurs.
I could go on and on about the MDM. But let me say this, I still keep the 5 dollar nose bleed ticket from that game sealed in a hard case in my wallet.
Derek Fisher's 0.4 sec winning buzzer.
Memorial... that was on our way to the ship...
What would have happened had Elliott's shot not gone down? Popovich has one idea.
“Without it,” Popovich said, “no championship.”
Maybe that's true, and maybe it isn't. The Spurs went on to sweep the Blazers in four games. They were dominant throughout their playoff run, losing only two times en route to crushing the New York Knicks in five games in the NBA Finals.
Maybe a loss in Game 2 only delays the inevitable river parade for a few more days.
Or maybe a Memorial Day miss changes everything. Maybe the ghosts of playoff failures past resurface. Maybe old doubts take over. Maybe the underachieving Spurs add another face-plant to their growing collection of playoff busts.
Maybe Popovich, who had been on the verge of being fired after the team started the strike-shortened 1999 season 6-8, is pink-slipped. Maybe a franchise's entire history is inexorably altered.
“Who knows what would have happened?” Elliott said. “We could have lost that ballgame. We could have lost our confidence. So many times, one break had kept us from playing for a championship. So many years of that had built up.
“If that shot hadn't gone down, that's a lot to think about.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/A...iraculous.html
Also, the vote on the money to build the new arena took place later a few months after the 99 championship.
There really isn't any comparison. One led to the 1st championship, the other led to WCF exit.
I also thought the "But two shots are heads above the rest and are etched in Spurs fans minds" statement was odd. Horry made TWO more memorable shots than the TD 3 in Game 5 vs. Pistons alone.
All great clutch shots, that's more dam sure. I think Sean's shot had to be biggest though, just the drama of it.. he almost went out of bounds when he caught the ball, got it, and then heels over the line but NOT touching.. sinks the shot over Rasheed jumping out the roof to block it. Sheed looked like he was within a hair of getting a piece of it. Then the reaction from Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Lu ck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_.. like he said "I told you!!" Just awesome.
Horry's shot was just as important, cause we could have lost the game and the championship that year. If Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Lu ck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_ misses that shot, there was always the chance we still could have won the series, but if Horry missed the shot.. it was even more certain that we could of lost the championship... Funny how Sheed was in the picture in both of those shots.. no wonder he chose Boston!
Maybe the Spurs can hit another clutch shot in the finals this coming year over Sheed.. you never know..
The Ninja's Memorial shot was more impactful than TD's. The Memorial day shot changed the course of SPURS HISTORY.
Most of Spurs fans believe the Memorial Day Miracle shot was bigger because we started to get champions from that season on. But when you look into the single game in which the big shots took place, you have to admit TD's 3 point shot is also very big, for it's critical situation, the great determination from Duncan, the frozen moment, and the crazy crowd.
Agree entirely!
The Pistons were clearly the better team (the reigning defending champs) and we somehow managed to win it all!
Very different from Championships against the Knicks, Nets and Cavalier which were complete mismatches.
Fixed. Stop speaking for all Spurs fans.
Lame question. Sean's for sure. Horry's game 5 was more important and wasnt an option to pick from? Tim's 3 was as big as his shot before Fishers .4 shot. Both Tim's mean nothing as no les came those years. If you want to make a real poll- ask what Otter Pop tastes best!
I like the notion of comparing Duncan's 3 with Barry's OT-forcing 3 in 2006 -- it's about right. It's not to diminish the quality of Duncan's shot or the thrill it brought, but at the end of the day, Duncan's shot forced a second overtime in a Game 1 of a First Round series. It's like Horry's 3 in Denver in Game 4 of the 2007 first round, which gave the Spurs a 3-1 lead over a team they were always going to beat.
A much-bigger shot by Duncan, historically speaking, was his finish in Game 6 at Seattle in 2005. While as much a product of Ginobili's creativity as Duncan's greatness, that shot clinched a series in the last second of the deciding game and put what had proven to be an unwelcome challenge from the Sonics in the Spurs rearview mirror.
Bowen's dagger in Phoenix in 2007 is also more like the Memorial Day Miracle than Duncan's 3 a year later. Bowen's shot really did propel the Spurs forward to a le from a moment in time where getting there might have become a really difficult proposition.
The Memorial Day Miracle changed the culture and at ude in San Antonio. With the shot we became part of the elite in the NBA. Prior to that we were no better than the Mavs or the Suns.
Best view of the play may be in the video montage during the last 30 seconds of the clip;
I believe the Memorial Day Miracle was more significant, since the Spurs went on to win it all that year.
Tim's shot had one HUGE impact:
It put a nail in the Sun's "run" of a few seasons; the Blazers were still around after the MDM.
The TD 3 wasn't even Tim's biggest shot... I'd say the clutch basket over Shaq that led the Fish's shot w/ .4 was bigger. Sean's shot iced his career and defined the magic of that season. No contest.
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