Phoenix Suns: Top 10 Buzzer Beaters in Franchise History

Phoenix Suns Top Buzzer Beaters in Team History: Third Tier

Although they certainly seemed unreal at the time, you probably forgot about a few of these shots that went in at the horn, especially with one of them dating back to the Charles Barkley era.

#10: Quentin Richardson sticks with it to beat the Denver Nuggets – Dec. 20th, 2004

Amidst an eight-game win streak while being led by an eventual MVP in Steve Nash, the Suns marched into Denver feeling quite confident during this early winter contest. However, the Nuggets threw their best punch at Phoenix even with Carmelo Anthony unable to suit up.

With the game tied at 105-105 and about seven seconds to play, Nash drove down the lane and hit Quentin Richardson on the cut for what looked like an easy dunk. However, a Nugget defender rose to block his shot. Amar’e Stoudemire then missed a rebound-tip shot, but then Richardson popped back up to tap in Stoudemire’s miss at the buzzer.

It was just an early regular season game, but Richardson’s perseverance to come back and finish the play remains something to behold.

#9: Michael Finley ices the Los Angeles Lakers – Nov. 25th, 1995

The Suns found themselves down 10 points with under a minute to go, but refused to quit against the Los Angeles Lakers on their own home floor. They marched back to within one with about six seconds to play and forced a jump ball at mid-court.

Charles Barkley won the tip and then A.C. Green wrestled it away from two Lakers. With a few seconds to spare, he passed the ball off to Finley who darted toward the free throw line, rose up,  and sank one at the buzzer.

Although it was another early-season game, beating the Lakers had to feel good, especially in comeback fashion.

#8: Tyler Ulis steals one from the Boston Celtics – March 5th, 2017

Going up against a Boston Celtics team that went on to earn the Eastern Conference’s top seed, few gave the lowly Suns a chance to win this early March contest. However, Tyler Ulis and Eric Bledsoe thought differently.

With about 10 seconds to play, the Suns found themselves down a bucket, but Bledsoe attacked the rack, scoring on our very own Jae Crowder to tie things up. On the next play, Marquese Chriss disrupted Boston’s inbound pass. The ball rolled out to Ulis who hit a step back three to win it.

In a matter of seconds, Phoenix pulled off arguably the biggest regular season upset of the 2016-17 season. It also became the third buzzer beater for Phoenix that season, the most by any NBA team at the time.