Gar Heard

Last updated

Gar Heard
Personal information
Born (1948-05-03) May 3, 1948 (age 76)
Hogansville, Georgia, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight219 lb (99 kg)
Career information
High schoolEthel Knight (LaGrange, Georgia)
College Oklahoma (1967–1970)
NBA draft 1970: 3rd round, 40th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career1970–1981
Position Power forward
Number40, 24
Career history
As player:
1970–1972 Seattle SuperSonics
1972–1973 Chicago Bulls
1973–1976 Buffalo Braves
1976–1980 Phoenix Suns
1980–1981 San Diego Clippers
As coach:
1987–1993 Dallas Mavericks (assistant)
1992–1993 Dallas Mavericks (interim)
1993–1997 Indiana Pacers (assistant)
1997–1998 Philadelphia 76ers (assistant)
1998–1999 Detroit Pistons (assistant)
1999–2000 Washington Wizards
2000–2001 Atlanta Hawks (assistant)
2004–2005 Detroit Pistons (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 6,828 (8.7 ppg)
Rebounds 5,876 (7.5 rpg)
Assists 1,220 (1.6 apg)
Stats   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Garfield Heard (born May 3, 1948) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the third round of the 1970 NBA draft. He had a 15-year NBA career for four teams (the Sonics, the Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Phoenix Suns). Heard is best known for a buzzer beater he made to send Game 5 of the 1976 Phoenix – Boston championship series into a third overtime. This feat is commonly known as "The Shot", or "The Shot Heard 'Round the World", in reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Concord Hymn", which was written about the Battle of Lexington.[ citation needed ]

Contents

College career

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. [1] [2]

Professional career

Prior to the 1973–74 NBA season, Heard and Kevin Kunnert were traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Buffalo Braves for John Hummer, a 1974 NBA draft 2nd round pick and a 1975 NBA draft 2nd round pick. Heard went on to rank in the top ten in rebounds and blocked shots that season. [3] The deal was part of the resume that earned Buffalo Braves General Manager Eddie Donovan the NBA Executive of the Year Award. [4] Heard once played 86 games in an NBA season, which is 82 games long, when he was traded in the middle of the 1975–76 NBA season from Buffalo to the Phoenix Suns. [3]

The Shot

With two seconds remaining in double overtime, John Havlicek had given Boston a one-point advantage with a running one-handed shot. 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. Legend has it that Havlicek had actually taken the tape off his ankles by this stage. But the Suns correctly pointed that there was still time left, though the officials only placed one second back on the clock instead of two. (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.) 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 20 feet away. 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.

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. The rule has since been changed to award the ball to the team shooting the free throw.

Coaching

Heard served as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks from 1993 to 1994 and the Washington Wizards from 1999 to 2000. His overall head coaching record is 23–74. During the 2004–2005 season, Heard was an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons; he coached several games that season when Larry Brown was out due to a medical condition. Heard has also served several stints as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers.

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular seasonGGames coachedWGames wonLGames lostW–L %Win–loss %
PlayoffsPGPlayoff gamesPWPlayoff winsPLPlayoff lossesPW–L %Playoff win–loss %
TeamYearGWLW–L%FinishPGPWPLPW–L%Result
Dallas 1992–93 53944.1706th in Midwest————Missed Playoffs
Washington 1999–00 441430.318(fired)————
Career972374.237————

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References

  1. ↑ Helsley, John (February 15, 2009). "Blake Griffin has 40 points, 23 boards for No. 2 Sooners against Texas Tech". The Oklahoman .
  2. ↑ "Capel's Sooners Still Streaking". Oklahoma Sports / SoonerSports.com (CBS Interactive). Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Gar Heard". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Denver's Mark Warkentien named NBA Executive of the Year". NBA.com . May 3, 2009. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
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