The spirit of the holidays was on full display during Thursday's slate of NBA games.
As many as four contests ended with buzzer-beating shots as the Miami Heat's Tyler Herro, the Detroit Pistons' Jaden Ivey, the Portland Trail Blazers' Scoot Henderson and the Washington Wizards' Jordan Poole guided their teams to victories.
Herro's shot was probably the most heroic of them all. The star guard made a heavily contested midrange pull-up jumper in the final second of the fourth quarter to seal the Heat's 89-88 victory over the Orlando Magic. The shot marked Herro's third career go-ahead basket in the final second of the fourth quarter or overtime, per ESPN research. Amazingly, two of those clutch makes have come this season.
TYLER HERRO CALLS GAME VS. MAGIC pic.twitter.com/erYDwVmsZp
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 27, 2024
Elsewhere, Ivey completed a four-point play with 3.1 seconds to give the Pistons a 114-113 lead over the Sacramento Kings. Ivey was fouled after he baited De'Aaron Fox with a pump fake, earning himself an and-one opportunity.
With 3.1 seconds left, the Kings had the chance to take back the lead but were without timeouts. As such, Fox attempted a 52-foot three that he couldn't sink.
JADEN IVEY 4-POINT PLAY FOR THE WIN ‼️
— NBA (@NBA) December 27, 2024
Pistons win 114-113 pic.twitter.com/9wuXDyj85V
Second-year guard Henderson made the biggest shot of his young career to seal the Blazers' 122-120 win over the Utah Jazz. With 6.2 seconds left, he came off a screen and drained a turnaround jumper with literally one-tenth of a second left on the shot clock. As a result, Utah didn't have time to inbound the ball, let alone attempt a game-winner.
SCOOT HENDERSON GAME WINNER.
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 27, 2024
pic.twitter.com/eo0BqBiLVc
And finally, Poole hit a step-back three with 8.1 seconds left to give the Wizards a 112-110 lead. This was technically not a game-winner since the Charlotte Hornets had ample time to call a timeout and draw up a shot for Brandon Miller. However, Miller missed a three with 6.0 seconds left. The Wizards then made a free throw to ice the game.
JORDAN POOLE HITS THE STEP-BACK THREE TO BEAT THE HORNETS
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 27, 2024
The confidence from Jordan Poole pic.twitter.com/7hwIf3u0Ut
It was a fun night of basketball that also saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tie his career high with 45 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 120-114 win over the Indiana Pacers, their ninth straight victory.
It was a good night to be a fan of basketball pic.twitter.com/VUxxh2E3p7
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 27, 2024
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