Flashback Friday: Big Shot Rob saves the Day in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals

The San Antonio Spurs made it to the finals the last two seasons and will have to sit this one out as the Cleveland Cavaliers go against the Golden State Warriors this year. We all can’t forget the time in the 2005 NBA Finals when the Spurs went against the Detroit Pistons. They had tough and physical guys like Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, former Spurs center Antonio McDyess just to name a few.

Both teams were extremely good on defense that year, especially since they were both top three in Points Allowed. So let’s talk about this game 5 and how Mr. Robert Horry came through to save the day. Horry is known as one of the best clutch performers in NBA History, so his resume was kind of nice. His first point came in during the final play of the 3rd quarter and once the fourth quarter came, he was unstoppable. He was scoring from all angles of the floor and to think a guy playing with a bothered shoulder could stand down, that would be a negative in everyone’s eyes. The Piston fans could not believe what they were watching and even the Spurs were in a zone of their own, as Horry did what he absolutely did best, and that was unbelievable make shots.

Stretching out his body to dunk the ball with authority, making threes at every area of the floor and having fun on the court when the game was close was what Horry provided for the Spurs. Toward the end of overtime the Spurs were down 93-95, Manu Ginobili received the inbound pass from Horry and as soon as he was trapped by Tayshaun Prince and Wallace, he quickly passed it to the dangerous man on the court to nail the three. Even commenters Hubie Brown and Al Michaels couldn’t believe their eyes and stating that Horry is off the charts.

Robert Horry shoots a game-winning shot to put the Spurs up 96-95 with 7.6 seconds left in overtime against the Detroit Pistons in Game Five of the 2005 NBA Finals. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Well he was off the charts in that overtime with five of the Spurs 7 points. He ended up scoring a total of 21 points, 7 rebounds and was 5-6 at the three point line.

“I like to play basketball and have fun and a lot of guys like to take the game so seriously” – Robert Horry

Heroics at its finest and Horry proved to the world that you do not have to take the game too seriously to win games. Just continue to have fun and do what you love on the court, and the rest of the pieces will connect.

With two championships with the Houston Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the Spurs, he definitely knows how it feels to be a champion on three different teams. Winning game 5 meant a great deal, especially at The Palace of Auburn. The Spurs ended up finishing the finals 3-2 and brought home their third NBA title. Horry’s game 5 moment will always be remembered by Spurs fans all around the world and will never be forgotten as one the memorable games in NBA Finals history.

Below is a video uploaded by Jamie re of Horry’s epic plays in Game 5 of the finals.

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