Top NBA Shots of the Decade

The game was over. Orlando had completed their second straight come-from-behind victory in the Q, a place where most had thought they never stood a chance to take even one game.

I even sent out a "Hedo!" text after Turkuglo nailed the go-ahead basket with one second left to play in regulation. Amazing. Orlando was up 2-0 in a series that I would have had a hard time predicting that they'd last five games.

And then it happened: The Shot. By now, we've all seen it dozens of times, but I'm linking to it anyway because it was just that unbelievable. It was a play that as it was happening you realized that it was special, a once-in-a-season type moment that we won't see again.

It was hard to watch that shot and not reminisce back to some of the greatest shots that we've seen in recent NBA playoff memory. So that's exactly what we're doing today.

As promised, after the NBA Finals I will be unveiling my All-Decade team for the 2000s. As a little teaser, here's a look back at some of the greatest shots of the last decade. Make no mistake, LeBron's three-pointer at the buzzer Friday night makes this list.

LeBron wins Game 2

You could talk about the blown 23-point lead, or the fact that the Cavs hadn't protected home-court as well as anyone though they would, or LeBron being simply human down the stretch until that shot.

But why would you? Just admire it for what it is, one of the greatest shots in the career of one of the all-time great players in NBA history.

Derek Fisher scores in .4 second

The video for this one is perfect because it illustrates just how dire things were for the Lakers. Tim Duncan, well on his way to carving out his legacy as the greatest power forward of all-time, hit a dagger of a shot in the final second that would have given the Spurs a 3-2 series lead over the "Four-Hall-of-Famers-at-one-time-Lakers." Gary Payton's face at to 40-second mark sums up the collective feelings of Laker Nation.

I'll never forget watching that game and the deflated feeling I had after the Tim Duncan shot. Then, after what felt like two minutes straight of complete silence my buddy broke the tension by joking, "Hey, at least there's time to catch and shoot."

There certainly was, and what transpired was one of the greatest shots of the decade.

Tim Duncan hits his first three-pointer of the season to force double OT against the Suns

This shot was awesome on so many levels. First, it prolonged one of the greatest Game 1s in NBA history. Second, it added even more fuel to the Suns/Spurs rivalry. Third, it was a dagger to the Suns. When you hate the Suns as much as I do, that is a good thing. And finally, it gave us a Ryder Cup-esque fist pump from Tim Duncan. Greatest power forward of all time? Yes. Greatest celebrator? Let's just say even David Duval thought that was a poor effort.

Kobe Bryant hits the game-winner against the Suns in Game 4 to put the Lakers up 3-1

There were plenty of videos linking to this shot. I chose this particular clip for two reasons: one it shows the teardrop floater that Kobe hit to force OT. The game winner gets its own "Where amazing happens" commercial, but the shot to force OT was so frantic, so improbable, and such a high degree of difficulty that I thought that might have been the best play I'd ever seen Kobe make.

And secondly, it shows Steve Nash turn the ball over twice in two game-winning situations. This was the two-time league MVP and he twice couldn't just hold the ball and get fouled and win the game for his team at the line. What a joke.

Kobe's alley-oop to Shaq finishes Portland

The Trail Blazers led by 15 points with nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter before the Lakers made the greatest comeback in Game 7 history, with Kobe's alley-oop to Shaq serving as the exclamation point to a 25-4 Los Angeles run that stamped their ticket to the NBA Finals.

Watching this replay is sure to spark the greatest "what if" debate in NBA history.

Big Shot Bob beats the Kings

It wouldn't be the greatest shots of the decade if we didn't include Robert Horry. And as great as that shot was, it doesn't top this...

Big Shot Bob beats the Pistons

Horry's shot against the Kings earned him the reputation as the greatest clutch shooter of our generation, but this dagger in Game 5 of the NBA Finals cemented his legacy.

At that point in his career, Horry was already known around the league for being an absolute assassin in the final minutes. This was the last big shot in Big Shot Bob's career, and I will always remember it as the one that kept the Pistons from back-to-back titles.

Chauncey forces OT

You can search YouTube for "Chauncey buzzer beaters" and get a ton of results. He hit so many clutch threes in his six seasons with the Pistons that it became almost a given that he'd come through in the clutch. They didn't call him "Mr. Big Shot" for nothing.

But this three was amazing, even by Chauncey's standards. With the Pistons trailing by three in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals with under three seconds to play, Billups hit the biggest shot the Pistons had seen in "years and years and years" to force overtime. The game would go down as one of the all-time classic conference Finals games, going into three overtimes before New Jersey finally outlasted the Pistons behind Brian Scalabrine (yes, that Brian Scalabrine).

Even though the Pistons lost, Mr. Big Shot himself secured a place on the list of greatest shots of the decade.