Mo Pete's Miracle Shot
Before Kawhi Leonard hit The Shot in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, the craziest shot in Toronto Raptors history may have come from Morris Peterson.
For seven years Peterson was a Raptors fan favourite. He was never particularly great, but Raptors fans overlooked his flaws and fell in love with the man they called Mo Pete.
In what would be his final season in Toronto, Peterson delivered on one of the most unlikely shots in NBA history.
On March 30, 2007, the Raptors took the court a half game up on the Washington Wizards for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with 11 games to go. A win and the Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell would clinch his 100th career win.
Through the first 47 minutes of action, the game was a typical Chris Bosh, Raptors game. Bosh had scored 29 points, but Toronto couldn't pull away from Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards. Then, in the final 15 seconds of the game, things got very wacky.
Washington connected on three free throws to go up 105-101 with 9.4 seconds to go.
That's when Peterson entered the game for the first time.
In desperation mode, Toronto hurried down the court and got the ball to Juan Dixon who nailed a 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds to go.
The teams exchange free throws before the Raptors sent Arenas to the line with 3.8 seconds left in regulation, putting Washington up three.
Out of timeouts, the Raptors had to resort to a desperation full-court pass. Anthony Parker quickly collected the ball and threw it deep to Bosh, looking to create a Christian Laettner-esque game winner. Instead, Washington's Michael Ruffini picked off the pass with 2.8 seconds to go and sent the ball high into the air to kill the clock.
"My natural reaction was to just throw the ball in the air and let time run out," Ruffini later told reporters.
This should have been game over. Toronto had a 0.5% chance of winning that game after Parker's turnover, according to stats.inpredictable.com, but the ball slipped as Ruffini threw it, allowing Peterson to catch the ball as it came tumbling down and throw up a prayer as time expired.
"I just tried to put some arc on it," Peterson told reporters after the game. "I wanted to make sure I could give it a chance to go off the glass or something."
Bucket. Nothing but net.
On the Wizards broadcast, play-by-play broadcaster Steve Buckhantz lost his mind.
"No! Not possible!" he yelled. "Not possible! ... Oh no! ... How did that happen?"
Raptors play-by-play broadcaster Chuck Swirsky was in equal shock.
"Got it!" he yelled. "I don't believe it! I don't believe it! ... I don't believe what I just saw! Onions baby onions!"
Overtime was all Bosh. He scored eight points in five minutes and the Raptors clinched victory.
After the game the Wizards locker room sat in shock, according to Washington Post reporter Ivan Carter.
"I think I'm going to go home and watch 'Titanic' and see if the ship still goes down," Arenas told reporters postgame. "I don't even know what to say about this one."
Thirteen years later there isn't much more to say other than "wow."
