69. Gar Heard and the Buffalo Braves cover art

69. Gar Heard and the Buffalo Braves

69. Gar Heard and the Buffalo Braves

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 It’s April 28th, 1975 and the best basketball player in the NBA plays in Buffalo. Bob McAdoo wins the MVP for the Buffalo Braves who are in the playoffs and taking on Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes and the Washington Bullets in a fierce series that would eventually go 7 games. One of the unsung heroes for the Braves is on the cover of Sports Illustrated from 50 years ago as he soars to the basket during game four of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The 6’6 forward had a standout college career for the Oklahoma Sooners where he was the schools 2nd all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder at the time of his graduation. Playing for John McLeod at Oklahoma, Heard averaged 21.7 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in his senior year. Taken by the Supersonics in the 3rd round, Heard didn’t do much in his first two years in Seattle before being traded to Chicago and then in 1973 to Buffalo… and it was there where his NBA career took off. Playing alongside McAdoo and Randy Smith, Heard did the hard work averaging a double-double in his two years and helping take the team to their first two playoff appearances… But after a successful 1974-75 season, Heard was shocked when he was dealt yet again… this time to Phoenix where he once again would play for head coach, John McLeod. The Suns were languishing in the West before Heard’s arrival, but soon they took off… Playing in a league high 86 games, Heard once again averaged a double-double as the Suns made the playoffs and beat Seattle in 6 games and the defending champion Warriors in 7 with Heard once again averaging 14 points and 11 rebounds to advance to the ’76 NBA Finals. Awaiting the Suns were the Celtics and with the series knotted at two games each, game 5 was played on the parquet floor in Boston… and what a game five it was. Some call it the greatest NBA playoff game ever played. In one of the craziest finishes of all-time, the Celtics took a 2-point lead with 1 second left to play in the 2nd overtime. That’s when Gar Heard made the basketball version of The Shot Heard Round the World. A 20-footer over the outstretched hands of Don Nelson that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. On to the 3rd overtime it went where the luck of the Celtics Green finally prevailed and won the series in 6 games. But for one moment… one second to be more precise… Gar Heard made a shot of a lifetime. On the Past Our Prime podcast, Heard tells us all about the shot, and the technical foul Paul Westphal and the Suns took on purpose to help give them a shot… a shot Heard says was meant for him to take! Heard tells us how shocked he was to be dealt from cold and snowy Buffalo to the desert in Arizona in the middle of the 75-76 season and how Coach McLeod mentored him both in college and the pro’s. Heard’s career was more than just one miraculous shot and he tells us about the block he had on a young Keith Wilkes baseline jumper that helped knock off the Warriors and send the Suns to the Finals. A week after the Giants Bobby Thompson hit the Shot Heard Round the World in New York it’s Gar Heard’s turn to do it… this time in Boston. Just a few miles away from where the original Shot Heard Round the World took place two hundred years earlier in April of 1775. One of the greatest shots in NBA history and Heard tells us all about it on the Past Our Prime podcast. Listen and subscribe to the show for your weekly dose of sports history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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