Avery Johnson stood on the baseline, a solitary figure in silver and black, hands up, asking for the ball as a thunderous chant roared across Madison Square Garden, “DEE-fense! DEE-fense!”
With the New York Knicks leading the San Antonio Spurs 77-76 in Game 5 of the 1999 NBA Finals, Johnson recognized an opportunity. With less than a minute to play in regulation, his nearest defender stood more than 10 feet away.
Sean Elliott gave a ball fake at the 3-point line, took one dribble to the elbow and passed to Johnson, the undersized point guard in the corner. Johnson’s feet lifted from the floor. The ball left his hands.
New York held its breath.
The ball swished through.
Almost 27 years later, the shot echoes. It carries joy for the Spurs, pain for the Knicks and wonder that a much-maligned, twice-cut guard from San Antonio could sink the championship-winning basket.
“I was always the fifth option,” Johnson recalled. “The first four didn’t work, so I was left alone in the left corner and fortunately made the shot. If you see how wide open I was, the Knicks were worried about everyone else except me.”
The shot stirs memories of what was — and inspires predictions of what could be when the Spurs and Knicks meet for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday at the Frost Bank Center.
Now an NBA analyst, Johnson correctly predicted the Spurs would defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games to win the Western Conference championship.
His take on this year’s NBA Finals?
“Spurs in six,” he said.
To win in six, the Spurs would need to defeat the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, as they did on June 25, 1999. One person on the Knicks bench then will be on the same bench again. Rick Brunson played nine seconds in the 1999 series. He’ll be an assistant coach in the 2026 series.
Barring injury, his son won’t see much time on the bench. Jalen Brunson is a second-team All-NBA guard, averaging 26.9 points and 6.6 assists in the postseason.
San Antonio Spurs’ Avery Johnson (6) shoots as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, left, looks on during the first half against the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the 1999 NBA Finals Wednesday, June 23, 1999, at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP Photo / Mark Lennihan
“I coached against Jalen Brunson when he was at Villanova and played against his dad when he played for the Knicks,” said Johnson, a former Alabama coach. “Jalen’s got running mates from Villanova (Knicks guards Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart) who know how to win.”
The ‘Nova Knicks, as they are known, arrive in San Antonio on an 11-game winning streak. Their last loss came on April 23 by a point to Atlanta, 109-108, in the Eastern Conference first round.
“It’s going to be a tough matchup because they gave us problems this year and beat us in the (NBA Emirates) Cup game and beat us in New York by double digits,” said Elliott, now a Spurs broadcaster. “We had to rally to beat them (134-132) here in San Antonio when we were down.”
The Spurs of early June are better than the Spurs of late December and early March. Down three games to two in the Western Conference finals, they rallied to oust the defending NBA champions. Despite New York’s winning streak, the Spurs are favored to win the title.
“I hate predictions,” said Elliott, a two-time All-Star forward in his prime. “But I see us somehow closing it out in Madison Square Garden. That would be in Game 4 or Game 6. Sweeping is a little ambitious, but I see us winning there.”
Elliott remembers not winning there in 1999. The Spurs lost Game 3, 89-81. They committed 20 turnovers and unraveled after a series of miscues and questionable calls. One was an early 3-pointer Elliott made that was waved off on a Knicks’ foul. “I’d never seen that before,” he said. The call drew a fiery protest from Coach Gregg Popovich and a technical.
Up two games to one, the Spurs shook off the loss and stormed back in Game 4, winning 96-89, behind a 28-point, 18-rebound performance from Tim Duncan.
Behind the scenes, Elliott held a secret. Three months before the finals, a doctor told him to start thinking about a kidney transplant.
The Spurs knew Elliott suffered from minimal change disease, a disorder that damages tiny blood vessels in kidneys. They knew he experienced fatigue and swelling in his legs. They didn’t know a vital organ was in distress. Elliott’s level of creatinine, a measure of kidney function, was spiking. A normal creatinine level is 0.7 to 1.3 for men. After Elliott sank a 3-pointer to beat Portland on Memorial Day, his creatinine level jumped above 7.0.
“I never thought about it on the court,” he said. “Not for one second. I won’t dwell on something I can’t control.”
Elliott did not play particularly well in Game 5. He grabbed six rebounds, missed all four field goal attempts and finished with two converted free throws. As the end of regulation approached, Elliott took a pass from Duncan, who was double-teamed down low. A ball fake left him with an open shot at the three-point line. Elliott declined to take it.
“If I had been shooting the ball well in that game, I’d have let it go,” he said. “Avery had no one around him. And I had a lot of confidence in Avery. Pop always told me that was the best pass I made in my career.”
Johnson remembers the play differently. “That was Sean’s only assist of the season,” he said, tongue planted firmly in his cheek.
Youtube video
The target of Elliott’s pass struggled under the weight of finals pressure. Johnson arrived at Game 5 agitated, feeling the uncomfortable edge of history, wanting the series to be over.
“I always thought we’d win it,” he said. “But I think the anticipation added more pressure than any I’d felt for the entire playoffs.”
It showed. With less than a minute to play, Johnson had six turnovers. He’d made three of nine field goal attempts. Misfires and mistakes wore on him. When Elliott’s pass arrived, he stood in more empty space than the kid in “Home Alone.” All frustration fled.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” Johnson said. “I felt a calmness unlike anything else. In that moment I just reacted.”
The improbability of the moment — a journeyman guard feathering an epic shot — stunned the Garden. Two years earlier, Portland’s Damon Stoudamire had declared that no team led by Johnson would ever win an NBA championship. The comment underscored a perception held by more than a few. The Spurs needed a different floor leader to lead San Antonio to its first title.
Moments after the Spurs took the lead, 78-77, NBC’s Bob Costas put the shooter and shot in perspective: “Avery Johnson. Undrafted. Bounced around the NBA. Cut twice by the Spurs before sticking the third time. A 5-foot-3 high school senior. The last man on his high school team grew eight inches in the next couple of years to get to 5-11.”
The Spurs could not celebrate. Forty seven seconds remained on the clock, an eternity to the guard known as The Little General. “That 47 seconds,” Johnson said, “felt like four hours and seven minutes.”
Latrell Sprewell took the Knicks’ next shot, a jumper that hit the back of the rim. Johnson, the shortest man on the floor, secured the rebound and dribbled downcourt, the clock ticking, the Knicks unwilling to call a timeout.
Johnson fired a pass to David Robinson, who spun to the basket, took a shot and grabbed the rebound. Through a tangle of bodies, he muscled the ball to Elliott, who passed to Johnson several feet beyond the arc. With the shot clock about to expire, Johnson missed a desperation heave. The Knicks called time.
With 2.1 seconds left, Sprewell took an inbounds pass from Charlie Ward and found himself double-teamed under the basket. He spun away, took an off-balance shot and Elliott grabbed the ball. In a flash, silver and black jerseys converged in a heap on the floor, an unlikely shotmaker dancing, a forward in need of a new kidney shouting for joy. “That tops any other moment I’ve had in my career,” Elliott said.
Today, their jerseys hang from the Frost Bank Center rafters, Johnson’s No 6, Elliott’s No. 32. Nearby are five NBA championship banners, the first from 1999. The Spurs legends expect a sixth banner to rise after the finals.
In Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-5 wonder, the Spurs will have the best player on the floor. On a good night, Wemby dominates offensively and defensively. On an average night, he keeps the Spurs in contention. “If he has a huge series,” Elliott said, “forget about it. We’re going to win it.”
The Spurs’ array of skilled playmakers, wings and bench players — from De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell to Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Carter Bryant and Luke Kornet — fuel Johnson’s confidence. “It’s a complete team,” he said.
Complete and ready to win the franchise’s sixth championship in six games? “If I’m wrong and the Spurs win in seven,” Johnson said, “I’ll be just as happy.”
Like he was in 1999.