Gar Heard

Gar Heard

Personal information
Born	(1948-05-03) May 3, 1948 Hogansville, Georgia, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight	219 lb (99 kg)
Career information
High school	Ethel Knight (LaGrange, Georgia)
College	Oklahoma (1967–1970)
NBA draft	1970: 3rd round, 40th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career	1970–1981
Position	Power forward
Number	40, 24
Career history
As player:
1970–1972	Seattle SuperSonics
1972–1973	Chicago Bulls
1973–1976	Buffalo Braves
1976–1980	Phoenix Suns
1980–1981	San Diego Clippers
As coach:
1987–1993	Dallas Mavericks (assistant)
1992–1993	Dallas Mavericks (interim)
1993–1997	Indiana Pacers (assistant)
1997–1998	Philadelphia 76ers (assistant)
1998–1999	Detroit Pistons (assistant)
1999–2000	Washington Wizards
2000–2001	Atlanta Hawks (assistant)
2004–2005	Detroit Pistons (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-Big Eight (1970)
Career NBA statistics
Points	6,828 (8.7 ppg)
Rebounds	5,876 (7.5 rpg)
Assists	1,220 (1.6 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Garfield Heard (born May 3, 1948) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the third round of the 1970 NBA draft. He had a 15-year NBA career for four teams (the Sonics, the Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Phoenix Suns). Heard is best known for a buzzer beater he made to send Game 5 of the 1976 Phoenix–Boston championship series into a third overtime. This feat is commonly known as "The Shot", or "The Shot Heard 'Round the World", in reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Concord Hymn", which was written about the Battle of Lexington.

College career

Heard set an Oklahoma school record with 21 double-doubles for a season by a Sooner in 27 games during 1969–70. It was finally broken by Blake Griffin on February 14, 2009.

Professional career

Prior to the 1973–74 NBA season, Heard and Kevin Kunnert were traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Buffalo Braves for John Hummer, a 1974 NBA draft 2nd round pick and a 1975 NBA draft 2nd round pick. Heard went on to rank in the top ten in rebounds and blocked shots that season. The deal was part of the resume that earned Buffalo Braves General Manager Eddie Donovan the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Heard once played 86 games in an NBA season, which is 82 games long, when he was traded in the middle of the 1975–76 NBA season from Buffalo to the Phoenix Suns.

The Shot

See also: 1976 NBA Finals

With two seconds remaining in double overtime, John Havlicek had given Boston a one-point advantage with a running one-handed shot. The Celtics' timekeeper then ran the clock out instead of stopping it after a made basket, per league rules. The Boston Garden crowd erupted, believing the game was over, and the Celtics themselves actually went back to their locker room. Legend has it that Havlicek had actually taken the tape off his ankles by this stage. But the Suns correctly pointed that there was still time left, though the officials only placed one second back on the clock instead of two. (Celtics fans had stormed the court after the time was erroneously allowed to expire, and one particularly boisterous fan attacked referee Richie Powers after it was announced that the game was not over yet.) Paul Westphal then intentionally took a technical foul by calling a timeout when the Suns had no more timeouts to use. It gave the Celtics a free throw, which Jo Jo White converted to give Boston a two-point edge, but the timeout also allowed Phoenix to inbound from mid-court instead of from under their own basket. When play resumed, Heard caught the inbound pass and fired a very high-arcing turnaround jump shot from at least 20 feet away. It swished through, sending the game into a third overtime. However, Boston eventually won the game and the Finals, four games to two. Heard had scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Game 5.

A revision to Rule 12-A, Section I, in regards to excessive timeouts, resulted in the elimination of the advancement of the ball following an excessive timeout. The rule has since been changed to award the ball to the team shooting the free throw.

Coaching

Heard served as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks from 1993 to 1994 and the Washington Wizards from 1999 to 2000. His overall head coaching record is 23–74. During the 2004–2005 season, Heard was an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons; he coached several games that season when Larry Brown was out due to a medical condition. Heard has also served several stints as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
*	Led the league

NBA

Source

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1970–71	Seattle	65		15.8	.381		.656	5.0	.7			5.9
1971–72	Seattle	58		25.8	.401		.617	7.6	.9			7.9
1972–73	Seattle	3		5.7	.444		1.000	2.0	.7			3.0
1972–73	Chicago	78	9	19.7	.425		.650	5.7	.7			10.3
1973–74	Buffalo	81		35.7	.435		.650	11.7	2.2	1.7	2.8	15.3
1974–75	Buffalo	67		32.1	.388		.564	9.9	2.8	1.6	1.8	11.1
1975–76	Buffalo	50*		30.5	.421		.607	10.2	2.5	1.3	1.1	9.9
1975–76	Phoenix	36*		33.9	.452		.673	9.9	1.8	1.4	1.1	12.4
1976–77	Phoenix	46		29.6	.379		.725	9.6	1.9	1.2	1.2	9.7
1977–78	Phoenix	80		26.2	.424		.612	8.2	1.7	1.6	1.3	7.8
1978–79	Phoenix	63		19.3	.441		.689	5.6	1.0	.8	.9	6.3
1979–80	Phoenix	82		17.1	.417	.000	.744	4.6	1.2	1.0	.6	5.0
1980–81	San Diego	78		20.9	.376	.000	.782	4.5	1.6	1.3	.9	4.8
Career		787	9	24.9	.414	.000	.654	7.5	1.6	1.3	1.3	8.7

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1973	Chicago	2	4.5	.500		–	1.5	.0			2.0
1974	Buffalo	6	40.0	.457		.708	14.7	2.5	1.5	2.0	16.8
1975	Buffalo	7	35.7	.396		.429	10.9	2.6	1.3	1.1	11.7
1976	Phoenix	19*	37.9	.441		.679	10.4	1.7	2.1	1.9	13.9
1978	Phoenix	2	31.0	.353		.500	8.0	2.5	1.0	2.0	6.5
1979	Phoenix	15	21.3	.372		.600	7.1	.9	.8	1.7	5.5
1980	Phoenix	8	27.9	.393	–	.733	6.4	1.5	1.1	1.4	6.9
Career		59	30.9	.419	–	.651	9.1	1.6	1.4	1.7	10.2

Head coaching record

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Dallas	1992–93	53	9	44	.170	6th in Midwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Washington	1999–00	44	14	30	.318	(fired)	—	—	—	—
Career		97	23	74	.237		—	—	—	—

External links

• BasketballReference.com profile as player
• BasketballReference.com profile as coach