During his 14-year playing career, Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West was known as “Mr. Clutch” for his tendency to hit timely or game-winning shots.
In Game 3 of the 1962 NBA Finals, he got a steal with a few seconds left, then raced to the other end and made a layup at the buzzer to down the Boston Celtics.
Eight years later, against the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the championship series, West was at it again.
At The Forum in Inglewood, Knicks forward Dave DeBusschere hit a jumper from near the free throw line with three seconds left in the fourth quarter, giving New York a two-point lead, and it looked like the Lakers were about to fall behind 2-1 in the series.
Wilt Chamberlain tossed an inbound pass to West, who took a few dribbles, then mustered all the strength he could out of his wiry 6-foot-3 frame and flung a shot from about 60 feet out.
Good!
The Forum crowd erupted in pandemonium, but there was one problem: since the NBA was years away from adopting the 3-point shot (its rival league, the American Basketball Association, did have such a shot), West’s basket only forced overtime.
In that extra period, the Lakers fell short, 111-108.
They would go on to lose in seven games, losing the final game at Madison Square Garden when Knicks center and captain Willis Reed famously summoned the courage to play on an injured leg.
It was the Lakers’ seventh loss in the Finals since moving to L.A. in 1960, and it looked like the organization was cursed.
Luckily though, the Purple and Gold finally beat the Knicks two years later to bring the City of Angels its first NBA championship, and the first of many, many more to come.
