Garfield Heard (born May 3, 1948) is an American retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and coach. He played collegiately at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) in the third round of the

1970 NBA draft The 1970 NBA draft was the 24th annual NBA draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 23, 1970, before the 1970–71 NBA season, 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amate ...

. He had a 15-year NBA career for four teams: the Sonics, the

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...

(now the Los Angeles Clippers), the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, and the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. Heard is best known for a

buzzer beater In timed sports, a buzzer beater is a successful shot made as the clock expires at the end of a period or at the end of the game, leaving zero seconds remaining. A buzzer sounds whenever a game clock expires, hence the name "buzzer beater." In b ...

he made to send Game 5 of the

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

Phoenix–

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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 Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

's poem "Concord Hymn", which was written about the

Battle of Lexington The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Co ...

Early life

Heard was born on May 3, 1948, in

Hogansville, Georgia Hogansville is a city in Troup County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,060 at the 2010 census. Since 1998, Hogansville has held an annual Hummingbird Festival. History The community was named after William Hogan, owner of the origi ...

. He attended Ethel W. Kight High School in LaGrange, Georgia.

College career

In 1966, Heard chose to attend the

(OU), over the University of Southern Illinois. 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." He was selected first team All- Big Eight for the 1969-70 season. Heard played under head coach John McLeod for three seasons (1967-1970). (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 in 27 games during 1969–70. It was finally broken by Blake Griffin on February 14, 2009.

Professional career

Supersonics, Bulls, Braves

Heard was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics (now the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

) in the third round of the

(40th overall). 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. Prior to the

1973–74 NBA season The 1973–74 NBA season was the 28th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences * The ...

, 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. 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 The NBA Executive of the Year is an annual award in the National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1972–73 NBA season, to the league's best general manager, president of basketball/business operations, or another high-ranking e ...

. 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. Heard went on to rank in the NBA top ten in rebounds (10th) and blocked shots (6th) that season.

Suns

After Donovan returned to the Knicks in April 1975, 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. 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 Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He played 14 seasons as a center in the National Basketball Association, playing for four different teams. As a star for Indiana University ...

(88) and Tom Henderson (87), and tied with

McCoy McLemore McCoy McLemore Jr. (April 3, 1942 – April 30, 2009) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1960s and 1970s. He played college basketball for the Drake Bulldogs men's basketball, Dr ...

(86). 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. The Suns defeated Seattle in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs (4–2), and then defeated the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in the Western Conference Finals (4–3). Golden State had a 59–23 regular season record. Heard started all six games in the first round, averaging 15.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2 blocks per game. 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. 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.

The Shot

Game 5 against the Celtics is often rated as the greatest, or one of the greatest, NBA finals game in history. The Celtics won the game 128–126 in triple-overtime. 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. 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 John Joseph Havlicek (often nicknamed Hondo) ( ; April 8, 1940 – April 25, 2019) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A swingman, Hav ...

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 The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later ...

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 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 Richard Francis Powers (October 14, 1930 – July 31, 1998) was an American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1979. He worked 25 NBA Finals games, including the triple-overtime Game 5 contes ...

after it was announced that the game was not over yet.) Suns guard Paul Westphal then intentionally took a

technical foul In basketball, a technical foul (colloquially known as a "T" or a "tech") is any infraction of the rules penalized as a foul which does not involve physical contact during the course of play between opposing players on the court, or is a foul by a ...

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. 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 technical free throw. 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. He played his final season with the San Diego Clippers, for which he had played when the team was in Buffalo.

Coaching

Heard was an assistant coach with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

for five years (1987-92) under John McLeod (Heard's coach at Oklahoma and with the Suns) and

Richie Adubato Richard Adam Adubato (born November 23, 1937) is an American former basketball coach in the National Basketball Association. He has served as head coach for three NBA teams, the Detroit Pistons, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Orlando Magic. He ...

. 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. He next served as an assistant coach for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

(1993-1997) under Larry Brown, the Philadelphia 76ers (1997-98) under Larry Brown, and

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

(1998-99) under Alvin Gentry. Heard began the 1999-2000 season as head coach of the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

, coaching 44 games, until he was fired in January 2000 by the team's new president,

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

. He joined the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season, under Don Nelson (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. From 2000-2003, he was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks under

Lon Kruger Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is an American former college and professional basketball coach (sport), coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for K ...

. 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. The Pistons went to the NBA finals that year, losing to the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in seven games.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 78, , 9, , 19.7, , .425, , , , .650, , 5.7, , .7, , , , , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 81, , , , 35.7, , .435, , , , .650, , 11.7, , 2.2, , 1.7, , 2.8, , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 67, , , , 32.1, , .388, , , , .564, , 9.9, , 2.8, , 1.6, , 1.8, , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , style="background:#cfecec;", 50*, , , , 30.5, , .421, , , , .607, , 10.2, , 2.5, , 1.3, , 1.1, , 9.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , style="background:#cfecec;", 36*, , , , 33.9, , .452, , , , .673, , 9.9, , 1.8, , 1.4, , 1.1, , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 46, , , , 29.6, , .379, , , , .725, , 9.6, , 1.9, , 1.2, , 1.2, , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 80, , , , 26.2, , .424, , , , .612, , 8.2, , 1.7, , 1.6, , 1.3, , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 63, , , , 19.3, , .441, , , , .689, , 5.6, , 1.0, , .8, , .9, , 6.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 82, , , , 17.1, , .417, , .000, , .744, , 4.6, , 1.2, , 1.0, , .6, , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, 78, , , , 20.9, , .376, , .000, , .782, , 4.5, , 1.6, , 1.3, , .9, , 4.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 787 , , 9 , , 24.9 , , .414 , , .000 , , .654 , , 7.5 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 8.7

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! 3P% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! SPG ! BPG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

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, 2 , , 4.5 , , .500 , , , , – , , 1.5 , , .0 , , , , , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 6 , , 40.0 , , .457 , , , , .708 , , 14.7 , , 2.5 , , 1.5 , , 2.0 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 7 , , 35.7 , , .396 , , , , .429 , , 10.9 , , 2.6 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , style="background:#cfecec;", 19* , , 37.9 , , .441 , , , , .679 , , 10.4 , , 1.7 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 2 , , 31.0 , , .353 , , , , .500 , , 8.0 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 15 , , 21.3 , , .372 , , , , .600 , , 7.1 , , .9 , , .8 , , 1.7 , , 5.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 8 , , 27.9 , , .393 , , – , , .733 , , 6.4 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 1.4 , , 6.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 59 , , 30.9 , , .419 , , – , , .651 , , 9.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.7 , , 10.2

Head coaching record

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Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

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References

External links

BasketballReference.com profile as player

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heard, Gar 1948 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Buffalo Braves players Chicago Bulls players Dallas Mavericks assistant coaches Dallas Mavericks head coaches Detroit Pistons assistant coaches Memphis Pros draft picks New Orleans Buccaneers draft picks Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players People from Hogansville, Georgia Phoenix Suns players Power forwards San Diego Clippers players Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Washington Wizards head coaches