Mistakes are often a normal part of life. In sports, they can shift momentum or cost you games. In recent history, mistakes of this caliber lead to losing an important series or even the championship game.
In the sense of basketball, things like this have happened all the time, with the most notable of them being J.R. Smith holding the ball during Game 1 of the 2018 Finals. However, this year, there’s a play that seemed to play its inverse, as the San Antonio Spurs proceeded to blow the largest lead in NBA Finals history.
Multiple factors contributed to this blown lead: defensive mismanagement from the coaching staff, a team offense that scored only 30 points in the second half and your best players, De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama, combining for 15-41 from the field. To top it off, a play in the final seconds left many in the basketball world confused and angry.
With under 15 seconds left, the Spurs led by one as Fox ran across the court to attempt a layup, only for OG Anunoby to block it and spark a fast break that ended with Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.
As former player Charles Barkley put it, “That was a [poor] play. He did not have to shoot that ball.”
It wasn’t the first time the Knicks were in a situation like that. A similar thing happened in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Cleveland Cavaliers blew a 20-point lead, then ran 44-11 across the fourth quarter and overtime.
This was a historic collapse at the time, completing the largest 4th-quarter comeback in Conference Finals history in the play-by-play era. Entering that night, teams trailing by 22+ points in the 4th quarter or later were 1-594 in the playoffs since 1997.
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson, despite having a timeout, didn’t call one until the final 3:30 of the fourth quarter. By that point, the Knicks had already unleashed a devastating, lightning-fast 18-1 run, slicing the Cavaliers’ comfortable lead down to a fragile 94-89 edge.
In the playoffs, things like this happen. Tensions are high and emotions often run hot, like in Game 2 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.
The Boston Celtics were comfortably controlling the game against the No. 8 seed Miami Heat. Boston was up by 9 points in the fourth quarter when Celtics forward Grant Williams hit a three-pointer right in Jimmy Butler’s face.
Williams became entirely overwhelmed by adrenaline and infamously began chirping and trash-talking directly into Butler’s face while walking back down the court. This backfired into a 22-9 run, in which Butler targeted and hunted Williams on every single possession. After stealing that game on Boston’s home floor, the Celtics went on to lose the series in a massive upset.
Upsets in the NBA can happen in all sorts of ways. Usually, when someone holds a series lead, momentum is often in their favor, such as when the Suns led the Dallas Mavericks 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals. Luka Doncic announced, “Everyone’s tough when they’re up,” and then walked them down so badly in Game 7 that the Suns issued an apology letter.
This Game 7 gave birth to the “Chris Paul hits a huge three to cut the lead to 42” meme you might’ve seen whenever athletes score in garbage time. At halftime, the score was 57-27, with Doncic’s 27 points matching the total the Suns had scored through then.
The Suns were highly favored to return to the Western Conference Finals but that return was cut short by a star point guard against draftmate DeAndre Ayton, who was picked two spots ahead of him in the 2018 draft.
However, in the 2021 Eastern Semis, what Ben Simmons didn’t do might have had generational consequences for the Sixers franchise.
At that point, the 76ers were title favorites, especially after getting their hearts broken in 2019 when Kawhi Leonard hit a dagger that bounced off the rim four times. They were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a stellar 49-23 record. This was the pinnacle of the Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons era and they had a wide-open path to the NBA Finals.
The 76ers faced the No. 5 seed Atlanta Hawks, a young team nobody expected to be there. Entering Game 7, Philly was a massive 7-point home favorite. Vegas and the entire basketball world expected them to cruise to the Eastern Conference Finals. The powerhouse Brooklyn Nets, with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, had just been knocked out by Milwaukee the night before.
Going into that series, Simmons was a 3-time All-Star and the Runner-Up for Defensive Player of the Year. He was the co-star of a championship contender.
So what does he do in a Game 7, season on the line, when he spins baseline and has a clear, uncontested path to dunk or lay up over a much smaller Trae Young? He passed the ball backward and the 76ers went on to lose that series.
“I thought he was going to foul me,” Young admitted on the Club 520 podcast.
Simmons was shooting an anemic 34.2% from the free-throw line in the playoffs. After that, Joel Embiid threw him under the bus, Doc Rivers openly doubted him and Simmons never played another minute for Philly.
In public memory, blunders and historic collapses often linger more than the opposing team’s success. Sports are games of nerves and an opponent’s nerve often wins out.
For the most part, players and teams can recover from these moments in the offseason by adding key depth and star pieces: Boston went on to win a championship, the 76ers got Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, and San Antonio still has a bright young core.