The strategy resulted in a technical foul, which stretched Boston’s lead to two points, but it enabled the Suns to make the inbounds pass from midcourt. That’s when the Suns’ Paul Westphal asked for, and received, a timeout he knew his team did not have. After order was restored, the officials put one second back on the clock and prepared to give Phoenix the ball.
In the second overtime, Phoenix grabbed a one-point lead with four seconds left but Boston’s John Havlicek raced the length of the floor and scored on a 15-foot bank shot that brought hundreds of Celtics fans pouring onto the fabled parquet. But referee Richie Powers chose to ignore the signal, and the teams played on. There was an unacknowledged timeout at the end of the first overtime that, had it been granted to Boston’s Paul Silas, would have resulted in a technical foul and given the Suns a chance to win the game. The game went three overtimes, the first Finals game ever to last that long, and had enough thrills, twists, and turns for a whole series.
#PHOENIX POINT EXPANSION PASS SERIES#
It was Game 5 of the NBA Finals, a series that was tied 2-2 between the tradition-steeped Boston Celtics and the upstart Phoenix Suns, a team born out of expansion less than a decade earlier. Former Hall of Fame player Rick Barry, who broadcast the game, called it “the most exciting basketball game I’ve ever seen,” and anyone fortunate enough to be in Boston Garden on Friday night, June 4, 1976, would likely agree. It was a game that many call the greatest ever.
NBA.com takes a look back at the top moments that define the history of the NBA. Boston and Phoenix waged a triple-OT thriller in the 1976 Finals.
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