Sean Elliott (far right), making amazing happen
Today is Memorial Day in the States (If you’re American and reading this, don’t make fun — we had our holiday last Monday), a day I’ll always associate with playoff basketball in the afternoon. Nowadays they play the game at night (Denver and LA tip tonight at 9), but as a kid I remember coming home from school and catching a little basketball before dinner. One of my favourite all-time shots came on holiday Monday — Sean Elliott’s three against Portland in the 1999 West Finals, aka the Memorial Day Miracle.
Some fun facts about the shot:
- Elliott caught the ball and shot from his tippy toes — If he’d put his heal on the ground, he would’ve been out of bounds.
- The shot gave the Spurs their first and only lead of the game. Turned out to be the only one they needed.
- Most incredibly, Elliott was playing with the knowledge that his kidney was dying and was in need of a transplant. He didn’t go public with this until after San Antonio won the championship the next month. Anyway, he found a match in his older brother and returned late the next season, becoming the first player in NBA history to return from a kidney transplant.
Anyway, enough talk — here’s a look at the Memorial Day Miracle:
(Also, click here for Marv Albert’s call of the shot — I’d put this as the main video, but the video’s just a tad grainy…)
[...] http://thatswhatimsayingguy.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/happy-memorial-day/Posted in Basketball | Tags: 1999, Basketball, blazers, elliott, holiday, holiday monday, kidney transplant, marv albert, memorial day, memorial day miracle, nba, nba playoffs, playoffs, portland, san antonio, sean elliott, spurs, … [...]
By: Quick scan of the net - san antonio spurs « Kits Objective Opinion on June 11, 2009
at 12:49 am