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  1. #1
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    .4 shot follows Fisher
    Web Posted: 11/10/2004 12:00 AM CST

    Johnny Ludden
    Express-News Staff Writer

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....3fc519e3.html

    Six months later, long enough for him to trade his yellow Los Angeles Lakers jersey for the blue and orange of the Golden State Warriors, Derek Fisher is approached by strangers carrying the photograph.

    Usually, they want an autograph. Fisher obliges, most of the time, using the opportunity to take one more look himself.

    The photo, taken by Sports Illustrated's John W. McDonough, brilliantly captures the entire scene. The ball, 2 feet out of Fisher's left hand. The clock reading 0.0. Malik Rose and Tony Parker standing on the sideline, arm in arm.

    The Spurs' ball boy squatting on the floor, eyes closed, teeth clenched around a towel, hands clasped as if in prayer. The female fan, dressed in white and black, holding her right index finger aloft, prematurely. The man directly in front of her, oblivious to everything, staring instead at his cell phone.

    Veteran official Danny Crawford's left hand is resting on the clock-starting timer on his belt.

    "It makes my skin crawl almost every time I see it," Fisher said. "Some people are looking at the shot like, 'Oh, no, it has a chance to go in.' Other people are still yelling and screaming, thinking the Spurs had won.

    "Emotionally, each time you see it, it's like it happens all over again."

    Tonight brings another reminder when Fisher makes his first public appearance in the SBC Center since he broke the hearts of the Spurs and their fans with his .4 catch-and-fling in Game 5 of last season's Western Conference semifinals.

    Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal won't be with Fisher. The Warriors are now paying him $37 million over six seasons to help deliver them into the playoffs. Not that it will matter to the 17,000-plus in attendance.

    "The different uniform isn't going to make any difference," said Fisher's friend and former teammate, Robert Horry. "They remember players. Fish was a Laker a long time, and last year was really fresh."

    The Spurs have done their best to bury their own memories. Manu Ginobili hasn't seen a replay since the week after the Spurs' season ended. Asked about the shot during training camp, Bruce Bowen retorted, "What about it? That's in the past."

    Fisher himself admits the significance of the shot lessened after the Lakers lost to Detroit in the NBA Finals.

    "I think in our minds, especially because of how many tough battles we've had with the Spurs in recent playoff history, we felt like winning that game and winning that series would give us the momentum to really finish off the year with the le," Fisher said. "To me, that's what made it feel so good. I felt like that ... would carry us through, and it almost did.

    "It could have had an even better place in history if our team could have accomplished our goal."


    Ultimate drama


    As it is, the final .4 seconds of Game 5 may long be remembered as one of the NBA's greatest -for-tat moments. The Spurs, seeking their second-straight championship, took a 2-0 lead in the conference semifinals only to have the Lakers even the series at home. The Lakers appeared to also have Game 5 locked up when they took a 16-point lead in the third quarter.
    Energized by Devin Brown, the Spurs rallied. After Bryant put the Lakers back in front, Tim Duncan somehow arched an 18-foot moonball over O'Neal to give the Spurs a 73-72 lead with .4 seconds left — the minimum time allowed by rule by the NBA to get off a shot.

    "We were more stunned, like, 'Man, how did we put ourselves in this position?'" Fisher said. "But, personally, at no point did I think it was over."

    After the Lakers called timeout, the Spurs watched them set up then called one of their own. On Los Angeles' next inbound attempt, Gary Payton didn't see anything he liked and signaled for another 20-second timeout.

    Lakers coach Phil Jackson changed the play, but Fisher said he never told Payton to look for him.

    "In a split-second like that," Fisher said, "you have to be able to just naturally react."

    Because there was too little time for Payton to get a return pass and shoot himself, the Spurs chose not to guard him. They instead doubled Bryant, who had made a pair of miracle shots in Portland two weeks earlier to give the Lakers the Pacific Division le.

    Payton's first option was to get the ball to O'Neal near the rim, but O'Neal couldn't free himself quickly enough. With Bryant doubled, Payton threw a perfect pass to Fisher, who caught it and released the winning shot in the same motion.

    "Defensively, there really wasn't much else that could have been done," Fisher said. "I was so focused on making the shot I didn't even see Manu in my face until I actually saw a picture of the shot. That's when I saw how close he really was to blocking the shot. He defended it perfectly."

    Fisher ran off the floor before the officials reviewed the shot. The Spurs filed a formal protest, claiming the clock started late, but the league denied it a day later. If anything, TV replays indicated the officials erred by not putting more time on the clock after Duncan's basket.

    Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called the Game 5 loss the cruelest he'd ever experienced.

    "I've never gone from such a high," Tony Parker said, "to such a low."

    Given a chance to even the series two nights later in Los Angeles, the Spurs hung close for 31/2 quarters but yielded down the stretch. Duncan, his own heroics rendered a footnote, congratulated Fisher on his shot prior to the final game.

    "I told him I had to duplicate the greatness he showed on the play before that," Fisher said. "I still cannot imagine his feelings, after making the shot he made to almost secure the game to have someone turn around and make a shot like that right after."

    Mario Elie, an assistant to Popovich last season who is now on Mike Montgomery's staff in Golden State, hasn't teased Fisher about the shot. Not even when the Warriors practiced at the SBC Center on Tuesday. Fisher, a hard-working veteran who has earned the respect of his peers, has primarily received only congratulations during his travels.

    There have been a few exceptions. When Golden State played a preseason game in Sacramento last month, a Warriors official told Fisher he was surprised at how much Kings fans had booed him.

    Fisher laughed.

    "Just wait," he said, "until we get to San Antonio."

  2. #2
    Mr. Dignity Solid D's Avatar
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    Step up Spurs!!! It's time for R - E - V - E - N - G - E!!! You've got to impose your will against the Fisher King of Shots. Will it be this, tonight?




    or this?



    Go, Spurs Go!

  3. #3
    Mr. Dignity Solid D's Avatar
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    Does Derek Fisher's jersey number say .4 or just 4? I can't quite make it out.

    Come on' people...step up tonight. Baseline Bums, 200 Clubbers, Rich people who yell, All ya'll. STEP IT UP!!! REVENGE OF THE SPURS!

  4. #4
    Mr. Dignity Solid D's Avatar
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    FACE YOUR FEARS PEOPLE!!!
    Last edited by Solid D; 11-10-2004 at 01:22 PM.

  5. #5
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    I wonder how many Spurs fans will really step up and boo him.

  6. #6
    5. timvp's Avatar
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    I still say he didn't get it off

  7. #7
    Even I went to a GTG iminlakerland's Avatar
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    How did the game go? did they treat fish well? tell me tell me!

  8. #8
    Hey Bruce... Lebron is the Rock Sec24Row7's Avatar
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    He got boo'd every time he came in the game.

    Not by me of course... I really don't think he is worth the air.

  9. #9
    Veteran LkrFan's Avatar
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    Good times. Shout out to the Spurs clock operator being asleep at the wheel

  10. #10
    Spurs Sage Russ's Avatar
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    Good times. Shout out to the Spurs clock operator being asleep at the wheel
    One question for our Laker friend.

    In the 16 years since that game has any other team scored a game-winning basket with .4 seconds left (or less) in any of the thousands of NBA games since, regular season or playoffs?

  11. #11
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    Good times. Shout out to the Spurs clock operator being asleep at the wheel
    I would wish you deported for this one, but you'd probably be safer on that side of the river so I won't report you to La Migra this time.

  12. #12
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    One question for our Laker friend.

    In the 16 years since that game has any other team scored a game-winning basket with .4 seconds left (or less) in any of the thousands of NBA games since, regular season or playoffs?
    It's happened with David Lee. Where he tipped in a shot with only .1 left on the clock.

  13. #13
    Every game is game 1 Seventyniner's Avatar
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    It's happened with David Lee. Where he tipped in a shot with only .1 left on the clock.
    McDyess did that to the Lakers too when he was a Spur.

    I remember Omer Asik of the Pelicans tipping the game-tying shot into his own basket at the AT&T Center on New Years' Eve too. I think that happened with almost no time on the clock.

  14. #14
    Derrick White fanboy FkLA's Avatar
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    Caught it in the air, at his hip, with his back to the basket. Landed, went back up, while turning, bringing the ball up to his head, and fading away. All in 0.4 seconds. outta here.

  15. #15
    You Are Not Worthy ZeusWillJudge's Avatar
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    Good times. Shout out to the Spurs clock operator being asleep at the wheel

    LOL. It was always known that the shot didn't get off within .4 seconds. But it did get off before the buzzer. The NBA had issued guidance to the refs that they were supposed to make calls based on actual time, and that they were the final word and not the buzzer. Pretty much custom made for a situation like that one. They ignored that, and went with the buzzer/light.

    That being said, you have to give Fisher credit - it was a in' shot under the ultimate pressure. And it's not that hard to understand that the refs didn't want to step in on a crucial playoff game between the two best teams in the league. I think they should have made the right ruling. If you're going to have instant replay, you should use it and let the chips fall. But I understand why they didn't. That's why they finally started having instant replay decisions made by an offsite official.

    Yes Fisher made a great shot. No it didn't happen in .4 seconds. Yes the Lakers won the game. That last one is really the only one that matters. If it had been waved off, and the Spurs had gone on to win the LOB, there would still be some Laker fans talking about the one that got taken away. I guess that's part of the reason professional sports never get boring.

  16. #16
    Chopper Ed Helicopter Jones's Avatar
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    It still hurts.

  17. #17
    NostraSpurMus phxspurfan's Avatar
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    One question for our Laker friend.

    In the 16 years since that game has any other team scored a game-winning basket with .4 seconds left (or less) in any of the thousands of NBA games since, regular season or playoffs?
    This was close


  18. #18
    NostraSpurMus phxspurfan's Avatar
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    Pistons would have destroyed us. They almost destroyed us in 05 too, we took several beat downs in games that year delivered by them.

  19. #19
    Watching since '97 Prose's Avatar
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    Pistons would have destroyed us. They almost destroyed us in 05 too, we took several beat downs in games that year delivered by them.
    yes the team that we beat in 7 in 2005...."almost destroyed us"

  20. #20
    TheDrewShow is salty lefty's Avatar
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    I think the Pistons would have beaten us in 2004

    We we better than them in 2005 but not in 2004

  21. #21
    Veteran Chillen's Avatar
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    All you have to do is play a clip of that shot on youtube and check from the time the ball touches his hands and to when it's off his hands. A whole second and a half goes by, clearly the shot clock was started a second late with only .4 of a second on the shot clock. This is old news but yeah what could have been for the Spurs if they had won that game. The shot before it by Duncan was one of his greatest clutch shots. That was still a great shot by Fisher even if it shouldn't have counted, took him 1.4 seconds to get it off. Spurs were f**ed because the refs aren't going to change the outcome of a game because they started the shot clock a second late.
    Last edited by Chillen; 03-17-2020 at 06:01 PM.

  22. #22
    Veteran Arcadian's Avatar
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    Tim's shot was still better. Legendary. That's when he was the best player on earth, and he kept proving it time and time again. Whatever his team needed, he gave them.

  23. #23
    6X ST MVP
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    One question for our Laker friend.

    In the 16 years since that game has any other team scored a game-winning basket with .4 seconds left (or less) in any of the thousands of NBA games since, regular season or playoffs?
    It's happened with David Lee. Where he tipped in a shot with only .1 left on the clock.
    Think he means real shots. NBA had come out and said 0.3 was the least amount of time someone could catch and shoot. Somehow. Fisher had time to catch, set, , fade, follow-through. What a f*ckin joke.

  24. #24
    You Are Not Worthy ZeusWillJudge's Avatar
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    Think he means real shots. NBA had come out and said 0.3 was the least amount of time someone could catch and shoot. Somehow. Fisher had time to catch, set, , fade, follow-through. What a f*ckin joke.
    Oh, it was worse than that.

    The league had done a bunch of tests in a gym, with cameras set up to check times precisely. They decided that .4 seconds was the minimum amount of time to get off a "normal" shot. They issued guidance that if there was anything less than .4, the shot could only be a tip-in, or the game was automatically over without even a review. The video review system wasn't as polished as it is today, and that was done so that the refs wouldn't have to try and figure out 1/10th of a second differences on the fly. So .4 seconds was the minimum they said that a player could catch, , and fire. (Not turn, put the ball on the floor, and fade away.)

    Most of you probably don't remember, but when Tim made his amazing shot on the previous play, the final buzzer sounded. The refs reviewed the video, to figure out if they should put time back on the clock. I was watching with friends and said, "Watch this... they're gonna put exactly four tenths back." That was no accident. They put back enough time to allow one last shot. If they had put back .3, that shot would have been disallowed without review.

  25. #25
    Veteran
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    One question for our Laker friend.

    In the 16 years since that game has any other team scored a game-winning basket with .4 seconds left (or less) in any of the thousands of NBA games since, regular season or playoffs?
    Maybe my memory is tricking me, but I seem to recall the spurs had a game winning basket disallowed, the very next season, against Utah (again, IIRC).

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