Buzzer Beaters

The Phoenix Suns had 4.3 seconds to work some magic. They trailed the Seattle SuperSonics 107-104 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series last May, and their point guard, Jason Kidd, stood near midcourt, ready to make the inbounds pass. Kidd slapped the ball, and suddenly Phoenix guard Rex Chapman, who had been standing near the top of the key, turned and sprinted away from him, toward the far sideline. Kidd hesitated for a split second, then lofted a pass across the court. Chapman caught it over his right shoulder like a wide receiver, turned and, in one motion, shot from several feet beyond the three-point line. The ball made a perfect arc from his hand into the net. Tie game.

The Suns lost in overtime, but that hardly detracted from the Kidd-Chapman collaboration, one of the most remarkable clutch baskets of last season in degree of difficulty. It was the kind of desperation play that had the look and feel of improvisation, but it was planned that way. "Believe it or not, that was a designed play," Phoenix coach Danny Ainge says. "When it comes to those last-second situations, you practice every possible scenario."

At some point every one of those scenarios will come to pass. The NBA does not keep track of how many games go down to the final shot, but 176 games (14.8%) were decided by three points or less last regular season. It's safe to assume that in most of those, the outcome was still in doubt on the last possession. During last season's playoffs, 12 of the 72 games (16.7%) either went to overtime or were decided on the last sequence, including three in the Finals—all won by the Chicago Bulls.

In most close games, even those without last-second dramatics, there are one or two late-game sequences during which the game hangs in the balance. "In almost ever) game you will be faced with a defining moment, when you either have to make the stop or get a bucket," says Orlando Magic coach Chuck Daly. "It may not be on the last play of the game; it may come in the final minute or two. But there are going to be an awful lot of nights when it's going to be the difference between winning and losing."

That's why there is no more valuable commodity in the sport than a great clutch player. In last season's championship series Michael Jordan proved again that he has no equal among active players in that category beating the Utah Jazz with a jump shot at the buzzer in Game 1 and setting up Steve Kerr for a basket with five seconds left in Game 6, which sealed the victory and the title for the Bulls. Jerry West earned the nickname Mr. Clutch with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1960s and '70s, and current star guards Anfernee Hardaway of the Magic and Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers have built reputations as shooters who excel at the end of close games, but Jordan's only true rival as the alltime master of the endgame is Larry Bird. "They're the two best I've ever seen," says Ainge, who was a Celtics teammate of Bird's for eight seasons. "If you have one of those two, everything you draw up late in the game has a great chance of working."

Every team has a package of plays designed for end-of-the-game situations. "You have plays for any amount of time remaining, from less than a second all the way up to 24," says Golden State Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo. So put yourself in the coach's place as you consider the anatomy of the last shot. Also, remember that the way a play works in practice isn't necessarily the way it will work in a game, as Chapman's three-pointer against Seattle proved. "That," says Ainge, "was the first time Rex ever actually made the shot."

:05 The Timeout

Your team is down by one when one of your players grabs the rebound of a missed shot. If you are like most coaches, you call a timeout to diagram the final play and make substitutions, though a few guys, such as Ainge and Carlesimo, often choose not to stop the game. "A lot depends on your personnel," Ainge says. "My two best players [Kidd and Kevin Johnson] are both point guards who are great in the open court. I feel comfortable letting them push the ball up the floor and create something before the defense has a chance to set up." But leaving the game in the hands of his players opens up the coach to criticism. "If you don't call a timeout, people are going to think you're not doing any coaching," says Daly. "Don't think that doesn't enter into some coaches' minds."

One advantage to not calling timeout is that players have no chance to lobby for the ball. "You've got all five guys who are in the game, a couple of players on the bench, the beer vendor and the lady in the third row all telling you they can get open," says Los Angeles Clippers coach Bill Fitch. But usually the entire team, plus everyone else in the arena, knows the play is going to be designed for the team's star. In Chicago it will be Jordan, in Orlando it will be Hardaway, in New York it will be Patrick Ewing. This isn't just because the coach can sleep better at night knowing that his best player decided the outcome.

"There's a psychological factor," Daly says. "Your go-to guy wants to know you have complete confidence in him to make that shot or make the right decision with the ball. If you go to someone else, you might have a problem on your hands. I think you saw that with the Bulls a few years ago [1994] when Jordan was retired, and they called the play for Toni Kukoc at the end of the playoff game against the Knicks. Scottie Pippen got so upset he wouldn't go back in the game."