In 1966, Heard chose to attend the University of Oklahoma (OU), over the University of Southern Illinois.[5] At the time he graduated, Heard was the Sooners' all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. As a senior, he averaged 21.7 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. The school has described him as "OU's first true superstar."[5][3][6] He was selected first team All-Big Eight for the 1969-70 season.[7] Heard played under head coach John McLeod for three seasons (1967-1970).[8] (McLeod would later coach Heard as an NBA player and Heard would serve as an assistant coach under McLeod).
Heard set an Oklahoma school record with 21 double-doubles for a season by a Sooner in 27 games during 1969–70. It was finally broken by Blake Griffin on February 14, 2009.[9][10]
Professional career
Supersonics, Bulls, Braves
Heard was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) in the third round of the 1970 NBA draft (40th overall).[11] He played his first two seasons in Seattle as a reserve power forward. In October 1972, three games into the 1972-73 season, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls (along with a third round draft pick) for Kenny McIntosh. Primarily playing as a reserve power forward, he averaged 20 minutes per game, with 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game that season for the Bulls.[2]
Prior to the 1973–74 NBA season, Heard and Kevin Kunnert were traded from the Bulls to the Buffalo Braves for John Hummer, a 1974 NBA draft 2nd round pick and a 1975 NBA draft 2nd round pick.[2] The deal was part of the drafting and trade resume that earned Braves General Manager Eddie Donovan, who had constructed the championship New York Knicks teams of the early 1970s, the NBA Executive of the Year Award.[12][13][14] In 1973-74, Heard had his best season in the NBA, averaging career highs with 35.7 minutes per game, 15.3 points per game, 11.7 rebounds per game, and 2.8 blocked shots per game.[2] Heard went on to rank in the NBA top ten in rebounds (10th) and blocked shots (6th) that season.[15]
Suns
After Donovan returned to the Knicks in April 1975,[14] on February 1, 1976, 50 games into the Braves season, Heard was traded along with a second round pick to the Phoenix Suns for John Shumate. The Suns' coach was John McLeod, who had coached Heard for three years at Oklahoma.[8] Heard went on to play 36 games that year for the Suns, playing in a total of 86 games in an NBA season, which is 82 games long. This is the third most games played in an NBA regular season, behind Walt Bellamy (88) and Tom Henderson (87), and tied with McCoy McLemore (86).[2][16][17]
The 1975-76 Phoenix team had a large number of strong offensive players, but defense was a problem. In Buffalo, the team lacked in offensive capability, and became interested in Shumate, offering Heard in a trade. Before the trade, the Suns had a 19–27 (.413) record and had trouble keeping opposing teams under 100 points per game. After acquiring Heard the team had a 23–13 (.639) record. During his 36 games with the Suns that season, Heard averaged 12.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and had a 45.2% shooting percentage.[18]
The Suns defeated Seattle in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs (4–2), and then defeated the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals (4–3). Golden State had a 59–23 regular season record.[19][20] Heard started all six games in the first round, averaging 15.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2 blocks per game.[21] He likewise started all seven games against the Warriors, averaging 13.1 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.1 blocks per game.[22]
The Suns played the Boston Celtics in the 1976 NBA finals, losing the series 4–2. Heard played more minutes than any other Sun during the six-game series, averaging 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.7 blocks per game.[23]
The Shot
Game 5 against the Celtics is often rated as the greatest, or one of the greatest, NBA finals game in history.[24][25][26][1][27] The Celtics won the game 128–126 in triple-overtime.[28] It is the end of the second overtime period, including an extraordinary shot from Heard with one second left in the period, that has been the object of particular focus.[25][29]
With four or five seconds left in double overtime, after a steal by Paul Westphal, the Suns took a 110–109 lead. Future Celtic hall of famer John Havlicek[30] raced down the floor and made a running 15 foot one-handed shot with two seconds remaining, giving Boston a one-point advantage (111–110). The Celtics' timekeeper then ran the clock out instead of stopping it after a made basket, per league rules. The Boston Garden crowd erupted, believing the game was over, and the Celtics themselves actually went back to their locker room[citation needed].[25][26][1][29] Legend has it that Havlicek had actually taken the tape off his ankles by this stage.[citation needed]
But the Suns correctly pointed out that there was still time left, though the officials only placed one second back on the clock instead of two, on the logic Havlicek let the ball go with two seconds left, and it would have taken one second to reach the basket. (Celtics fans had stormed the court after the time was erroneously allowed to expire, and one particularly boisterous fan attacked referee Richie Powers after it was announced that the game was not over yet.) Suns guard Paul Westphal then intentionally took a technical foul by calling a timeout when the Suns had no more timeouts to use. It gave the Celtics a free throw, which Jo Jo White converted to give Boston a two-point edge, but the timeout also allowed Phoenix to inbound from mid-court instead of from under their own basket. When play resumed, Heard caught the inbound pass and fired a very high-arcing turnaround jump shot from at least 18–20 feet away over Celtic defender Don Nelson.[31][27] It swished through, sending the game into a third overtime. However, Boston eventually won the game and the Finals, four games to two. Heard had scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Game 5.[24][25][26][1][29][28]
A revision to Rule 12-A, Section I, in regards to excessive timeouts, resulted in the elimination of the advancement of the ball following an excessive timeout.[citation needed] The rule has since been changed to award the ball to the team shooting the technical free throw.[32]
Heard went on to play four more seasons for the Suns (1976-1980), with the Suns advancing to the Western Conference Finals twice during that period.[2][33] He played his final season with the San Diego Clippers, for which he had played when the team was in Buffalo.[2][34]
Coaching
Heard was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks for five years (1987–92) under John McLeod (Heard's coach at Oklahoma and with the Suns) and Richie Adubato. He began the 1992-93 season as an assistant coach, but served as the Mavericks' interim head coach through the end of the season, when Adubato was fired in January 1993.[35][36][37][8] He next served as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers (1993-1997) under Larry Brown,[38] the Philadelphia 76ers (1997–98) under Larry Brown,[39] and Detroit Pistons (1998–99) under Alvin Gentry.[40][36]
Heard began the 1999-2000 season as head coach of the Washington Wizards, coaching 44 games, until he was fired in January 2000 by the team's new president, Michael Jordan.[41] He joined the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season, under Don Nelson[37] (over whom he had taken "the shot" in the 1976 finals). The Washington job was his last as a head coach. His overall head coaching record is 23–74.[36]
From 2000-2003, he was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks under Lon Kruger.[42][36] During the 2004–2005 season, he joined Larry Brown's staff for the third time, as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons. He served as head coach in several games that season when Brown was out due to a medical condition.[43] The Pistons went to the NBA finals that year, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games.[44]
Paul Douglas Westphal was an American basketball player and coach.
John Joseph Havlicek was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Cornelius Lance "Connie" Hawkins was an American professional basketball player. A New York City playground legend, "the Hawk" was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Donald Arvid Nelson is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors. After an All-American career at the University of Iowa, Nelson won five NBA championships playing with the Boston Celtics, with his number 19 retired by the franchise in 1978.
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The 1976 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1975–76 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. The series was highlighted by Game 5, a 3-OT victory by Boston. The Celtics won their 13th NBA title, second in the Dave Cowens era. Jo Jo White was named NBA Finals MVP.
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