Memorial Day Miracle

Exterior of the Alamodome in May 2018.
Portland Trail Blazers San Antonio Spurs 85 86
1 2 3 4 Total Portland Trail Blazers 31 17 19 18 85 San Antonio Spurs 20 14 26 26 86
Date	May 31, 1999
Venue	Alamodome,San Antonio,Texas
Referees	Dan Crawford Bob Delaney Ron Garretson
Attendance	35,260

TheMemorial Day Miracle is a game-winningthree-point field goal bySean Elliott in Game 2 of the1999 Western Conference Finals between thePortland Trail Blazers and theSan Antonio Spurs at theAlamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on May 31, 1999,Memorial Day.

Damon Stoudamire of the Trail Blazers was fouled with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He hit one of two free throws to make the Trail Blazers' lead a score of 85–83. The Spurs called a timeout to advance the ball to half-court. After the timeout, Spurs guardMario Elie inbounded the ball past a divingStacey Augmon to forward Sean Elliott.

Elliott caught the inbounds pass near the sideline. He stayed on his toes while turning to shoot a three-pointer, careful not to set his heels down out of bounds which would have caused aturnover. WithRasheed Wallace running at him trying toblock the shot, Elliott arched the ball over Wallace's outstretched hand and into the basket with nine seconds left to give the Spurs an 86–85 lead.^[1] Portland failed to score in the remaining time, and the Spurs, who had trailed for the entire game prior to Elliott's basket, celebrated on the court.

The game was broadcast onNBC as part of itsNBA on NBC branding. The call was announced byBob Costas:

"Elie will throw it in... into Sean Elliott. He fires the three... and hits it!"^[2]

The "Miracle" designation relates to the combination of circumstances involved:

1. As revealed after the Spurs' championship run, Elliott had been playing withfocal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which would require akidney transplant, and he would likely have not been involved in the game had he gone through with the transplant procedure sooner.^[3]
2. The Spurs trailed by 18 (52–34) early in the third quarter and had not led prior to Elliott's shot.
3. The Spurs' last play succeeded despite a nearsteal byStacey Augmon, near block by Wallace, and near turnover by Elliott, who managed to have his feet avoid touching the out-of-bounds line.^[4]
4. Portland still had nine seconds to make a shot that would have given them the lead butWalt Williams could not get his fadeaway shot to land in before San Antonio recovered the ball.

The Spurs won the next two games in Portland for a four-game sweep to win their first-ever conference title, after having lost four conference championship series since joining the NBA. In the1999 NBA Finals, they beat theNew York Knicks in five games to win their first NBA title. The Spurs would compete in the Western Conference Finals in nine out of the next 18 years and make it to the NBA Finals five more times, winning all but once to spark a dynasty. Portland would appear in the Western Conference Finals the following year, but would run into another team keen on building a legacy in theLos Angeles Lakers. The Lakers would beat them in seven games, and Portland did not win another playoff series again until2014 and did not make another appearance in the Conference Finals until2019.

• NBA.com's Legendary Performances: Memorial Day Miracle

• 1998–99 NBA season
• NBA playoff games
• Portland Trail Blazers games
• San Antonio Spurs games
• May 1999 sports events in the United States
• 1999 in sports in Texas
• 1990s in San Antonio

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