Do you notice that it has been 25 years because the Lakers gained the primary leg of their three-peat with Kobe and Shaq? It appears like that wasn’t that way back, however certainly loads has occurred within the NBA since that point, and in honor of this quarter-century mile marker, we have been sizzling on the content material path. Verify all of it out under.
And now, we convey to you the 25 most iconic pictures of the final 25 years. Most of those are game-winners, however a number of had been so legendary they did not must be. Two dunks made the minimize. No free throws.
Reminder: These pictures needed to happen in or after the yr 2000. That takes out all of the Michael Jordan pictures, the Reggie Miller eight factors in 9 seconds, the Larry Johnson four-point play, the Mario Elie kiss of dying, the Alonzo Mourning fall-on-his-back buzzer beater, the Steve Kerr and John Paxson Finals winners, the Magic Johnson All-Star Sport 3-pointer, the Patrick Ewing missed finger roll and a bunch of others.
These pictures won’t ever be forgotten, however in addition they will not be on this listing. As for my rating formulation, I accounted for stakes and stage, in fact, however most closely weighted how clear the shot stays within the common fan’s head, or how shortly somebody would recall the shot. If it is an “oh yeah, I forgot about that one” shot, it is additional down on the listing. If it is nonetheless as contemporary in our collective reminiscence because the day it occurred, it is larger. Easy, proper? Good. Right here we go.
25. Dirk stamps out Warmth (2011)
It is too dangerous that this shot is not much more memorable, as a result of it was the signature shot of one of many extra signature championships of this century. Dallas was properly on its solution to happening 2-0 within the 2011 Finals as Miami’s Large 3 had raced out to 15-point lead with simply over seven minutes to play within the fourth quarter. The Mavericks proceeded to shut the sport on a 22-5 run, with Dirk Nowitzki scoring Dallas’ remaining 9 factors, together with this game-winning lefty scoop with 3.6 seconds to play, earlier than occurring to win the collection in six.
24. Durant’s Sport 3 dagger (2017)
When Kevin Durant pulled up for this transition 3 in Sport 3 of the 2017 Finals, with the Warriors down two and beneath a minute to play, and being that it was over LeBron James, plenty of foolish symbolism discuss began going round about it signaling Durant’s official supplanting of James because the world’s finest participant. That wasn’t true. However Durant wasn’t far off, and nonetheless is not, and he was completely ridiculous on this collection in averaging over 35 PPG on 56/47/93 taking pictures splits.
Durant buried one other Sport 3 dagger within the 2018 Finals, however in that one, the Warriors had been already profitable. This one was totally different. Cleveland was proper there to win this recreation and doubtlessly make it a collection at 2-1. Durant ended any considered that. James was clearly nervous about getting overwhelmed with Durant coming at him with a head of steam, however you simply cannot give KD this type of area when a 3-pointer beats you and a two solely ties.
23. Luka dances on Gobert’s grave (2024)
That is the latest NBA shot on our listing. Sport 2 of the 2024 Western Convention finals. Mavs path by two as the ultimate seconds tick down. Luka Doncic, who has already hit quite a few memorable pictures in his younger profession, will get the change he needs and goes to work one-on-one towards poor Rudy Gobert, who’s on an island and has no probability of staying related as Doncic goes into his bag for his patented step-back.
After hitting this shot, Doncic had some alternative phrases for Gobert, who’s, shall we embrace, lower than favored by plenty of NBA gamers. That is a part of the indelible reminiscence of the shot itself. The larger query right here is why Gobert was within the recreation within the first place. Minnesota coach Chris Finch confirmed after the sport that the plan was to change all screens, wherein case, Doncic searching Gobert was inevitable. Finch put his large man in an inconceivable state of affairs, and Luka made them pay dearly.
22. LeBron works his Magic (2009)
LeBron James went wild within the 2009 Japanese Convention finals towards the Magic by averaging 38.5 factors, 8.3 rebounds and eight.0 assists. It wasn’t sufficient as Orlando eradicated the Cavs in six, however LeBron nonetheless walked away with the signature shot of the collection and of his younger profession with a buzzer-beating 3 to steal Sport 2. The shot. The response. It is all etched clear as day in our collective basketball reminiscence.
21. Curry places Clippers in blender (2015)
Stephen Curry modified basketball in two methods, along with his means to shoot from nearly limitless distances and off the dribble with a degree of effectivity that by no means might’ve been imagined. He utterly rewrote the definition of what constitutes a “good shot,” and there’s maybe no higher instance of this than when he freewheeled by means of the Clippers like a bunch of site visitors cones earlier than spinning and sinking what can be a fully horrible shot for anybody else in basketball historical past.
“I bear in mind from the sideline him wanting like Curly Neal from the Harlem Globetrotters,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr mentioned afterward. “In my thoughts, I am desirous about each coach that I’ve ever had in my life, their voice was in my head saying that is a horrible shot. What I ultimately discovered is that it is a fantastic shot, as a result of it is Steph Curry. The numbers do not lie. That is a shot he makes over 40% of the time. I lastly realized, Steph will get to shoot at any time when he needs.”
Paul has gotten plenty of criticism through the years for not having the ability to end playoff collection. He’s, in reality, the one participant in historical past to squander 4 2-0 collection leads. However in 2015, he flipped the script because it was Paul’s Clippers recovering from a 0-2 gap to knock out the defending championship Spurs, and it was Paul who banked within the Sport 7 winner with one second to play.
That is an excellent cooler minimize of the shot, displaying simply how tough an angle it was as Paul simply barely cleared the outstretched fingertips of Tim Duncan.
18. LeBron turns into scoring king (2023)
LeBron James handed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because the NBA’s profession scoring chief with a 15-foot fallaway towards the Thunder on Feb. 7, 2023. There was nothing significantly memorable in regards to the shot, but everybody remembers it. We had been all monitoring his factors over the previous weeks. Each media outlet was performing some type of countdown. He wanted 36 to get the report at house towards OKC. He ended the evening with 38,390 profession factors, a complete that has since risen to 40,474.
17. Durant’s toe on the road (2021)
One of many league’s all-time “what if” pictures, Durant was an inch, actually, from eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks with a exceptional turnaround jumper to offer the Brooklyn Nets what seemed to be a one-point lead with one second to play in Sport 7 of the 2021 Japanese Convention semifinals. Nonetheless, upon evaluation, Durant’s “big-ass foot,” as he known as it, was barely on the road, turning the 3-pointer to a two and as a substitute tying the rating.
If Durant wears a measurement 17 shoe as a substitute of a measurement 18, the Nets most likely win that recreation and that collection and find yourself taking part in the Atlanta Hawks within the convention finals. The what ifs from there can go any variety of instructions.
For one, Giannis Antetokounmpo does not have a hoop. Possibly Chris Paul does. Or, perhaps Durant will get his first away from Steph Curry and the Warriors, which might in flip have given James Harden his first ring and Kyrie Irving his first away from LeBron. In that case, perhaps Durant, Irving and Harden are nonetheless taking part in for the Nets. As an alternative, they’re taking part in for the Suns, Mavericks and Clippers, respectively.
Or, the convention finals go one other method and the Hawks get into the Finals as a result of the Nets had been banged up (Harden left after one minute in Sport 1 and sat by means of Sport 4 with hamstring tightness whereas Irving missed Video games 5-7 with a sprained ankle). How are we speaking about Trae Younger if he has an NBA Finals look beneath his belt? Hell, with the way in which the Hawks had been taking part in that postseason, they could have gained all of it had the Bucks not stopped them.
Alas, none of it occurred. As an alternative of ending the collection, Durant’s shot solely despatched Sport 7 to extra time, the place the Nets fell brief. And the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.
16. Kobe’s final shot (2016)
The final soar shot of Kobe Bryant’s profession will dwell endlessly within the NBA time capsule. It punctuated a fall-out-of-your-seat-ridiculous sequence that concluded what was maybe the best exit efficiency in sports activities historical past: a 60-point masterpiece towards the Jazz, who led by six with 90 seconds to play.
That is when Kobe cut up two defenders and pulled up from the appropriate elbow to chop the deficit to 4. On the subsequent possession, he buried a wing 3-pointer to trim Utah’s result in one. Then he did this …
Cliche as it’s, Hollywood could not have scripted a greater ending. It had every thing that made Kobe Kobe: the basic fade on his jumpers, the refusal to offer in to defeat, the steely stare, the main target, the showmanship — a whole crew, area, metropolis and NBA world going berserk round him and all he might see was the basket. It is nonetheless laborious to imagine Kobe is gone, however this shot and his legacy dwell on.
15. Vince Carter’s Dunk of Loss of life
A dunk that demanded its personal Wikipedia web page, Vince Carter’s “Dunk of Loss of life” over 7-foot-2 French middle Frederic Weis within the 2000 Olympics, qualifies as probably the most eye-popping athletic feats you may ever see. I suppose I might say extra in regards to the dunk, however that is a kind of issues that speaks for itself.
I imply, you actually need to be kidding. Weis is a legit 7-foot-2, and Carter had his head between his legs. Extra importantly, he did not use his arm to push off Weis and catapult himself larger, though even when he did, it will nonetheless be unbelievable.
I’ve watched this dunk at the very least 100 instances in my life. I nonetheless cannot imagine it. In a league comprised nearly fully of one-percent athletes, Vince Carter was, and all the time can be, in an athletic class of his personal.
15. LeBron’s banked buzzer-beater (2018)
What LeBron James did to the Raptors after returning to Cleveland from Miami was merciless, eliminating them three straight years, the ultimate two of which had been sweeps. The last word nail within the coffin was LeBron’s game-winner in Sport 3 of the 2018 Japanese Convention semis, when he raced finish to finish for a floating banker simply as time expired to offer Cleveland a 105-103 win and a 3-0 collection lead.
14. Derek Fisher 0.4 seconds (2004)
This was 20 years in the past, however time has performed little to decrease the reminiscence of Fisher catching an inbound cross along with his again to the basket and 0.4 seconds on the clock and one way or the other managing to show and fireplace a hot-potato jumper clear by means of the web to stun the Spurs in Sport 5 of the 2004 Western Convention finals.
The minimal period of time required to catch and shoot is 0.3 seconds. Once more, Fisher had 0.4, and his again was turned. I bear in mind watching this shot dwell and practically falling out of my seat. And I, together with hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of NBA followers, have by no means forgotten it.
13. Haliburton stuns OKC in Finals
Tyrese Haliburton‘s 2025 playoff run was one for the ages. The man hit 4 pictures to tie or win the sport inside the ultimate three seconds. 4. That is as many as Kobe Bryant made in his whole profession.
First, it was his dunk with 1.3 seconds left that eradicated the Bucks in Sport 5 of the primary spherical. Then he sank the Cavs in Sport 2 of the convention semis with 1.1 seconds on the clock. Then he shocked the Knicks with a game-tying buzzer-beater to ship Sport 1 to extra time (see No. 9 on our listing). And at last, we arrive on the Sport 1 winner within the Finals.
After trailing by as many as 15 factors within the fourth quarter, the Pacers had pulled inside one with beneath 20 seconds to play. With 14 seconds left, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander misfired a midrange shot. Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith corralled the rebound and handed it to Haliburton, who proceeded to do that.
When this shot went up, anybody who had been following the Pacers’ inconceivable playoff run seemingly had one in all two ideas. Both that is getting into, little question about it, or there’s completely no method this may occur once more. Certainly, it occurred once more. It’s such a disgrace that Haliburton ruptured his Achilles tendon in Sport 7. He and the Pacers had been on an all-time magic carpet trip because of comebacks and pictures like this.
12. Curry’s golden dagger (2024)
Is that this recency bias? I do not assume so. In reality, I believe when it is all mentioned and performed, this ridiculous off-balance, falling-away, arcing-to-the-heavens 3-pointer to cap a private four-3s-in-two-minutes run and seal a gold medal for the USA will go down because the second-most memorable shot of Stephen Curry’s profession.
Context is vital in rating pictures like those we’re discussing. With Curry’s first Olympic look and the hoopla surrounding him and LeBron’s teaming up, the anticipation for this complete Olympic run was at an all-time excessive. One way or the other, Curry, after a nasty begin to the event, did not simply dwell as much as all of the hype; he exceeded it. This shot was the exclamation level.
11. Kobe sinks Suns (2006)
This was within the “Lakers aren’t excellent however Kobe is rattling positive going to attempt to beat the world by himself” period. Bryant averaged 35 PPG in 2005-06 for the primary of two consecutive scoring titles, and he seemed like he was about to remove the Suns within the first spherical of the playoffs.
It was Sport 4. The Lakers had been up 2-1 within the collection. After Kobe had tied the sport with a twisting layup off a Smush Parker steal within the closing seconds of regulation, he ran down a soar ball in extra time because it was heading out of bounds and, with the Lakers down one, turned and raced straight to the appropriate elbow for his patented pull-up jumper.
When you had been watching this recreation, that is a kind of pictures you’ll have guess your life was going within the immediate it left his fingertips. For me, maybe due to the basic fist-pump response, that is probably the most memorable shot of Kobe’s profession, and I do not assume I am alone in that opinion.
10. Lillard grounds Rockets (2014)
Damian Lillard has considerably overshadowed this shot with one other, newer collection ender that we’ll get to shortly, however that is the one which acquired the legend of Lillard off the bottom — a 30-footer off the catch to ship the Blazers into the second spherical with beneath a second to play in Sport 6 of their 2014 first-round collection vs. Houston.
Wanting again, what stands out nearly as a lot because the shot itself his how emphatically Lillard is looking for the ball, clapping his palms and sprinting towards the in-bounder as he senses the separation he is created from the trailing Chandler Parsons. Consider, this was Lillard’s first profession playoff collection and simply his second yr within the league, and he wished this shot. This was the beginning of probably the most clutch shooters we have ever seen.
9. Haliburton chokes out Knicks
This one wasn’t a game-winner, however within the second, everybody thought it was. Once more, the Pacers had pulled off the kind of comeback match just for fiction, erasing a 17-point deficit with simply over six minutes to play. With beneath one minute to go, they had been nonetheless down 9. That is when Aaron Nesmith determined to bang three 3-pointers in simply over 36 seconds, and after OG Anunoby cut up a pair of free throws to take New York’s result in two with seven seconds remaining, Haliburton did this …
Truthfully, I do not absolutely know how one can weigh these Haliburton heroics with out acknowledging the potential for a recency bias. I can solely say that on the time, it felt like I used to be watching precise icon stuff. Maybe the reminiscence of even the Finals game-winner, if solely due to the way in which the Pacers misplaced that collection with the Haliburton harm overshadowing every thing that occurred earlier than it, will fade barely over time, but when I needed to guess, this shot vs. New York would be the one to face the check of time.
One, it was towards the Knicks, in Madison Sq. Backyard. And two, Halilburton gave the well-known “choke” signal to the New York crowd, harkening again to the 1995 Japanese Convention semifinals when Reggie Miller scored eight factors in 9 seconds earlier than hitting Spike Lee with the palms across the throat.
That Miller second was so legendary that for Haliburton to tug off one thing arguably even crazier (with plenty of assist from Nesmith) in the identical constructing, taking part in for a similar Indiana crew, whereas giving the identical iconic choke signal, all with Reggie Miller on the printed name, is so ridiculous that when you walked right into a Hollywood writers’ room and prompt that ending for a sports-movie script — full with the ball dramatically caroming about 10 ft within the air for the dramatic pause earlier than dropping by means of — they’d let you know that is even too far fetched for the films.
However you realize, they are saying, fact is stranger than fiction, and on this case, that was undoubtedly true. Initially, I assumed that the truth that this was ultimately dominated a two-pointer as a substitute of a 3, thus solely tying the sport slightly than profitable it for the Pacers, can be a degree towards its iconic standing. However wanting again, I believe it added much more drama that in any case that, everybody within the constructing, the gamers, coaches and followers, and everybody around the globe watching on TV, needed to one way or the other regroup in a matter of minutes for extra time, the place the Pacers one way or the other managed to maintain their feelings in test sufficient to complete the deal.
8. Kobe’s lob to Shaq (2000)
Most of you bear in mind it. For individuals who do not, it was Sport 7 of the 2000 Western Convention Finals, and the Lakers, who had entered the fourth quarter trailing by 15 factors to the Blazers, had stormed all the way in which again to take a four-point lead with lower than a minute to play.
If the Blazers might’ve gotten a cease, they nonetheless would’ve been inside two possessions with sufficient time to play the clock out, however because the clock ticked right down to 41 seconds, 21-year-old Kobe Bryant completely misplaced one of many biggest defenders in historical past, crossing over Scottie Pippen to get into the lane and power Brian Grant to step up as a helper. That left Shaquille O’Neal free to fly in for an ideal lob cross from Bryant and end probably the most iconic alley-oops in NBA historical past.
After finishing that comeback, the Lakers went on to win the primary of three straight championships, defeating Reggie Miller and the Pacers in six video games a number of weeks later.
7. Curry pulls up on OKC (2016)
It wasn’t within the Olympics. It wasn’t even within the playoffs. However Steph Curry’s 38-foot pull-up winner towards OKC in February of 2016 was an all-time shot and second. Personally, I’ve by no means reacted to a shot as wildly as I did this one. Mike Breen’s double-bang says all of it. No one might imagine what they simply noticed.
Curry was on one other planet this complete season. Each recreation, he was making a number of pictures that defied logic, and he was doing it routinely. He had 46 on this recreation towards the Thunder. The Warriors had been down 11 with beneath 5 minutes to play.
However that season, when Curry hit 402 3-pointers at a laughable 45% clip, you might be up 30 on the Warriors and nonetheless be nervous. Curry simply stored firing. And ultimately, he nearly all the time acquired sizzling. He was can’t-miss TV for the easy proven fact that he would, on a random evening in February, casually pull up from practically half court docket in a tie recreation, in extra time, when his crew had a timeout in its pocket.
Overlook the expertise. The sheer audacity of this shot is worthy of a top-10 rating on this listing. Curry will seemingly by no means make a extra memorable one.
6. Robert Horry guts Kings (2002)
These early 2000s Lakers-Kings playoff collection had been classics, and within the 2002 Western Convention finals, it seemed like Sacramento was going to recover from the hump with a 2-1 collection lead and a two-point lead within the closing seconds of Sport 4.
Kobe missed a possible game-tying layup. Shaq missed the putback. That is when Vlade Divac swatted the ball away from the basket, hoping time would expire. As an alternative, it served as a wonderfully chest-high kickout cross to the ready Robert Horry, who completely gutted the Kings with this unforgettable buzzer-beater.
After the sport, Divac known as this a “fortunate shot.”
“That wasn’t no luck shot,” Horry responded. “I have been doing that each one my whole profession. He ought to know. He higher learn a paper or one thing.”
Horry was proper. You do not get the title Large Shot Bob for nothing. Dude has made extra large pictures than simply about any participant in historical past, and none had been larger than this.
5. Dame waves goodbye (2019)
Beneath any circumstances, watching Lillard bleed down the clock to its remaining ticks earlier than pulling up for a sidestep 38-foot buzzer-beater to win a playoff collection would’ve been epic. But it surely was the dangerous blood that was effervescent between Lillard and the Thunder — he and Russell Westbrook had been jabbing within the media for years, and Dennis Schroder had mocked Lillard’s “Dame Time” wrist faucet earlier within the collection — that took it to a different degree.
Overlook Steph’s “night-night” or Kobe’s fist pump and even Jordan’s hanging comply with by means of in Utah; Lillard actually waving goodbye to the Thunder bench was probably the most savage sendoff in NBA historical past.
4. Kawhi bounces 76ers (2019)
I swear this ball remains to be sitting on the rim half a decade later. So many careers and franchise fortunes hanging within the stability. If it drops out, perhaps the 76ers win in extra time and Joel Embiid at the very least has a convention finals look on his resume, if no more than that, contemplating the Warriors had been hobbled. Possibly the Ben Simmons factor goes in another way. Possibly Jimmy Butler stays.
As an alternative, the ball falls by means of the web and every thing adjustments. The Sixers begin breaking apart. The Raptors go on to win the primary and solely championship in franchise historical past. Kawhi Leonard turns into probably the most sought-after commodity in the marketplace and even manages to interrupt up the Thunder on his solution to the Clippers by bringing Paul George with him.
The shot. The response. The long run fortunes and fallout. This shot had all of it, a Sport 7 buzzer beater in contrast to something we have ever seen.
3. Allen Iverson’s Step Over (2001)
It wasn’t a series-winner or perhaps a game-winner, however who might ever neglect Allen Iverson hitting the brakes on Ty Lue, stepping again and swishing a nook jumper, after which stepping over Lue as he sat on the bottom helplessly in Sport 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals?
Iverson, who was an absolute one-man offense for these Sixers, scored 48 factors over 52 minutes on this extra time win for Philly. The Lakers gained the subsequent 4 video games to win the collection handily, but it surely has been the step-over picture that has endured.
In Every little thing However The Chip: The 2001 76ers, Iverson recalled the step-over transfer … “I can not let you know what the sensation was like. I can not duplicate it. I used to be within the second. I simply know [Lue] fell in entrance of me; I do not know the way I even considered stepping over him like that. I used to be simply taking part in basketball.”
Lue, for his half, has by no means understood the large take care of the transfer.
“Folks make an enormous deal over it like he crossed me over and I fell down after which he stepped over me,” Lue mentioned on an look on All of the Smoke. “He hit a contested shot and I stepped again and I fell, he stepped over high of me. For me, it wasn’t an enormous deal. To this present day it is not an enormous deal.”
Lue is correct. He really defended that step-back about in addition to anybody might have. He acquired a hand up on the shot after which stumbled afterward. It isn’t like Iverson broke his ankles with the precise transfer. Nonetheless, it is a sequence of occasions that point has performed nothing to fade. Iverson stepping over Lue is as clear a picture because it was greater than 20 years in the past.
2. Ray Allen rescues the Warmth (2013)
This was a legacy-altering shot, but it surely wasn’t Allen’s legacy within the stability; it was LeBron James’ after he modified the NBA as we all know it, or knew it, by forming the Large 3 in Miami. If Allen does not hit this shot within the closing seconds of Sport 6, LeBron loses his second Finals in three years in Miami and is 3-7 within the Finals for his profession, which one way or the other sounds loads worse than 4-6.
However Allen modified historical past by first realizing precisely how far to backpedal to the nook off a Chris Bosh offensive rebound, and second by really drilling the shot to tie the sport. The Warmth went on to win in extra time, and two days later closed out the collection in Sport 7.
1. Kyrie Irving places the Cavs forward in Sport 7 (2016)
This can be a painful reminiscence for the Northern California child and longtime Warriors fan in me, however I’ve to confess, my nostalgic allegiances however, I type of smiled when this shot went in. It was all I might muster, however I needed to tip my hat to Kyrie and the Cavs. To be down 3-1 towards a 73-win crew and are available again to win the championship on a shot like this? Wow.
That is the shot each child goals up within the driveway. Sport 7. Tie rating. One on one towards the MVP. All the load of a championship drought in Cleveland that had lasted properly over half a century resting in your shoulders, and also you stand up and stick that type of dagger? Say what you need about Kyrie, however this was, is, and endlessly can be one of many NBA’s most legendary pictures.
