Gar Heard facts for kids

Garfield Heard (born May 3, 1948) is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. He played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma. In the 1970 NBA draft, he was chosen by the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder).

Gar Heard played in the NBA for 15 years. He played for four different teams: the Sonics, the Buffalo Braves (who are now the Los Angeles Clippers), the Chicago Bulls, and the Phoenix Suns. He is most famous for a special shot he made at the end of a game. This shot sent Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals into a third overtime. People often call this shot "The Shot" or "The Shot Heard 'Round the World."

Early Life

Garfield Heard was born on May 3, 1948. His hometown was Hogansville, Georgia. He went to Ethel W. Kight High School in LaGrange, Georgia.

College Basketball Career

In 1966, Heard decided to go to the University of Oklahoma (OU). He chose OU over the University of Southern Illinois. When he finished college, he was the top rebounder in OU history. He was also the second-highest scorer.

In his senior year, he scored about 21.7 points and grabbed 12.5 rebounds per game. The University of Oklahoma calls him their "first true superstar." He was named to the first team All-Big Eight for the 1969-70 season. Heard played for coach John McLeod for three seasons. Later, McLeod would also coach Heard in the NBA.

Heard set a school record at Oklahoma with 21 double-doubles in one season. A double-double means getting at least 10 in two different stats, like points and rebounds. He did this in 27 games during the 1969–70 season. This record was not broken until 2009 by Blake Griffin.

Professional Basketball Career

Playing for the Sonics, Bulls, and Braves

The Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) picked Gar Heard in the third round of the 1970 NBA draft. He was the 40th player chosen overall. He played his first two seasons in Seattle as a reserve power forward. This means he usually came off the bench.

In October 1972, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls. He played 78 games for the Bulls that season. He averaged 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Before the 1973–74 NBA season, Heard was traded again. He and Kevin Kunnert went from the Bulls to the Buffalo Braves. This trade helped the Braves' General Manager, Eddie Donovan, win the NBA Executive of the Year Award. In the 1973-74 season, Heard had his best year in the NBA. He played 35.7 minutes per game, scoring 15.3 points and grabbing 11.7 rebounds per game. He also blocked 2.8 shots per game. That season, Heard was among the top ten players in the NBA for rebounds (10th) and blocked shots (6th).

Playing for the Phoenix Suns

In February 1976, Heard was traded to the Phoenix Suns. His new coach was John McLeod, who had coached him in college at Oklahoma. Heard played 36 games for the Suns that year. This meant he played a total of 86 games in one NBA season, which is very rare. An NBA season usually has 82 games.

Before Heard joined, the Suns were not playing well. They had a record of 19 wins and 27 losses. They also had trouble stopping other teams from scoring. After Heard arrived, the team's record improved to 23 wins and 13 losses. During his 36 games with the Suns, Heard averaged 12.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game.

The Suns made it to the playoffs that year. They beat Seattle in the first round (4 wins to 2 losses). Then, they defeated the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals (4 wins to 3 losses). The Warriors had a great regular season record of 59 wins and 23 losses. Heard started every game in both playoff series.

The Suns then played the Boston Celtics in the 1976 NBA Finals. They lost the series 4 wins to 2 losses. Heard played more minutes than any other Suns player in the Finals. He averaged 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game.

The Famous Shot

Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals against the Celtics is often called one of the greatest NBA finals games ever. The Celtics won the game 128–126 in triple-overtime. The end of the second overtime, especially Gar Heard's amazing shot, is what people remember most.

With only a few seconds left in double overtime, the Suns were ahead 110–109. Then, John Havlicek of the Celtics made a shot with two seconds left. This gave Boston a one-point lead (111–110). The crowd thought the game was over and rushed onto the court. The Celtics even went back to their locker room!

But the Suns pointed out that there was still time left. The officials put one second back on the clock. Suns guard Paul Westphal then called a timeout, even though his team had no timeouts left. This is called a technical foul. It gave the Celtics a free throw, which Jo Jo White made, giving Boston a two-point lead. However, the timeout also allowed Phoenix to start play from the middle of the court.

When the game restarted, Heard caught the pass. He quickly shot a high-arching jump shot from about 18-20 feet away. The shot went in! This amazing shot sent the game into a third overtime. Even though Boston eventually won the game and the championship, Heard's shot is still famous. In that Game 5, Heard scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

After this game, the NBA changed a rule about timeouts. Now, if a team calls a timeout when they don't have any left, the other team gets the ball after the free throw.

Heard played four more seasons for the Suns (1976-1980). The Suns reached the Western Conference Finals twice during that time. He played his final season with the San Diego Clippers.

Coaching Career

After his playing career, Gar Heard became a basketball coach. He was an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks for five years (1987-92). His former college and Suns coach, John McLeod, was the head coach there.

In January 1993, Heard became the Mavericks' interim head coach for the rest of the season. He then worked as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers (1993-1997) under Larry Brown. He also coached for the Philadelphia 76ers (1997-98) and the Detroit Pistons (1998-99).

Heard became the head coach of the Washington Wizards in 1999. He coached 44 games before being fired in January 2000 by Michael Jordan, who was the team's new president. He then joined the Dallas Mavericks again as an assistant coach. The Washington job was his last as a head coach. His total record as a head coach was 23 wins and 74 losses.

From 2000 to 2003, he was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. In the 2004–05 NBA season, he joined Larry Brown's staff for the third time, as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons. He filled in as head coach for several games when Brown was sick. The Pistons made it to the NBA Finals that year, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

Career Statistics

NBA Regular Season

NBA Playoffs

Head Coaching Record

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See Also

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