VIDEO: Harris’s game-winning buzzer-beater
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — According to the schedule, the official NBA season was already more than a week old coming into Wednesday night. But those of us with the proverbial ice water in our veins and cooler hands than Luke know that the opera doesn’t really start until the sharpshooter slings.
We’re talking, of course, about the Horry Scale, that measuring stick for clutchness, that barometer of bombastic balling, that dagger-falling-out-of-the-sky delight that brings a worldwide community leaping up off the sofas and out of the La-Z-Boys to celebrate in joyous glee.
OK, so in this case it was the close friends and families of the Magic and Sixers. But those who stayed to the end of what was a pretty darned entertaining game between a couple of teams still in search of their first win were rewarded by Tobias Harris.
Before we go any further, what is the Horry Scale? For those newbies, the Horry Scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety night in November?) and celebration. Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, the patron saint of last-second answered prayers.
One thing to get straight: The Horry Scale does not measure only a game-winning shot; the Horry Scale measures several facets of a GWBB. So we’re talking about not only the shot, but also the play that creates the shot, the situation and the drama, the celebrations … basically, everything surrounding and including the shot. In short, it’s about the total package.
DIFFICULTY
On Day Nine of the 2014-15 season, we finally got our first Horry Scale entrant when Harris came off a double-screen to the right side of the floor, caught a nice feed from Evan Fournier and coolly rose up to nail a step-back 18-footer over the outstretched right hand of a just-too-late Luc Mbah a Moute. Harris got a good look because after Fournier took the inbounds pass from Elfrid Payton, he let the play unfold and delivered right on time. Harris caught the ball in rhythm and made a clutch-but-not-ridiculously-impossible shot.
GAME SITUATION
This was hardly Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers making his 0.9 second special to close out a playoff series last May. In fact, it was a battle of two dead-last, 0-for-the-season teams that were looking for any kind of reason to celebrate. It came following a jumper from the top of the key by the Sixers’ Henry Sims tied the score at 89 with 4.6 seconds left to play. Following a timeout, the Magic executed just the way coach Jacque Vaughn drew it up on the whiteboard, with Harris capping off an 18-point night by delivering the first victory of the season to Orlando (1-4). The Sixers continue on slumping at 0-5.
CELEBRATION
Let’s just say the Magic bench looked a bit more relieved than delirious to finally get that first notch on its belt. But the guys eventually gave their main man Harris a nice little jumping-jack reception.
GRADE
Let’s face it, this game had little on the line except personal pride for both teams. A middle of the week game between two sides with a combined 0-8 record at tipoff. As we said earlier, it wasn’t a circus shot or even the kind where Harris barely had time to think. It was cool and perfectly-executed. A nice, overdue beginning, but we’re waiting for something a bit higher up the food chain to start dishing out the big scores.
I’m giving this one two Horrys and leaving room for plenty of improvement and much more significance in the coming months.
