LEGENDARY
#1/44 LE
May 5 1989
Player's First Moment
Top Shot Debut
Player's First Moment
Top Shot Debut
The Seattle SuperSonics needed every second they could get. In Game 4 of a tightly contested first-round series against the Houston Rockets, Seattle had clawed back from a fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, then found themselves locked in a dead heat that would require one final answer. Derrick McKey provided it: taking an inbound pass from Nate McMillan with one second remaining, McKey released a shot that banked off the glass and through the net as the buzzer sounded, clinching a 98-96 win and a 3-1 series victory over a Houston team anchored by Hakeem Olajuwon, who had averaged 25.3 points and 13 rebounds across the four games. The series-winner was the defining moment in McKey's early career, a confirmation that the versatile wing who could guard four positions and deliver in crisis was built for postseason basketball. His final line on May 5, 1989 closed out one of the more dramatic first-round exits in Rockets history.
