Are SB49 and SB51 the greatest rushes of sports euphoria you've experienced?

[lancerman]

It depends on how old you were. I was 9 or 10 for Super Bowl 36. I hadn't lived through years of the Patriots sucking. I lived through them being on and off in the Bledsoe era and vaguely remember periods of them being pretty darn good.

I was too young to have the feeling of wow the 01 Rams are so good how could we ever hope to beat this impending dynastic team. Even the final drive for me was like "oh they just need a field goal, and who cares if they don't make it, there's still overtime". I truly believed and wanted to believe they could win that game.

I was much more knowledgeable about the NFL and football in the impending years. So 2007 was the gut punch of "yeah they are your team, they aren't going to win everytime they get here, it's hard".

Fastforward to 2014, it had been almost a decade since the last win. They got close and blew the 06 AFCCG, they had the most heartbreaking loss of my lifetime against the Giants in storybook fashion, they had a meaningless year without Brady, the Ravens just bullied them off the field in 09, the Jets got our number in 10, we dragged a crap secondary to try to get revenge against the Giants and came up short again, we were a causality to Ray Lewis and Manning's last real great years in the league (Ray retired, Peyton went on 2 more years and declined).

So 2014 rolls around. If they lose this year, it's 10 years since they won a Super Bowl. You can't talk about them being a dynasty anymore. They are a really good consistent team like he Cowboys of 78-87. Really good, consistently good records for the most part, got there, got close, but the magic was over. They also would have been labeled cursed for losing off 3 circus throws.

I actually thought we lost another late Super Bowl because we couldn't hold someone off at the end of the game. It was surreal watching the interception happen. Probably my favorite sports moment ever.

 

[Simpelton]

Bu bu no timeouts, teh field position, they should play for overtime, I don't agree with what the Patriots are doing, I think they should just run the clock out and play for overtime

You know something? Madden was not wrong when he said what he said in SB36. SB51 proved that the strategy he was talking about could have easily worked because that's exactly what Brady did in SB51 and he pulled it off with flair.

There's no need to play the revisionist-history game with SB36 because things came out in our favor. But simply based on what we knew at the time, pushing for overtime was the conservative play and certainly could have won us the Superbowl. It won us the game in SB51 when Brady didn't have the time to work his last minute magic in the 4th quarter

 

[1960Pats]

Seen some Celtics mentioned, but not the triple OT game 5 against Phoenix from the 75-76 season. Watched that alone from my parents TV room in B&W. THAT was a basketball game.

Was that the game where the ref ignored a time out call by the C's at the end of regulation because they didn't have any left and it would have been a technical?

 

[neali]

Was that the game where the ref ignored a time out call by the C's at the end of regulation because they didn't have any left and it would have been a technical?

Yes, that is the game. That game was madness.

Game 5[edit]
CBS
June 4

Phoenix Suns 126, Boston Celtics 128 (3OT)
Scoring by quarter: 18–36, 27–25, 27–16, 23–18, Overtime: 6–6, 11–11, 14–16
Pts: Sobers, Westphal 25 each
Rebs: Curtis Perry 15
Asts: Perry, Ricky Sobers 6 each Pts: Jo Jo White 33
Rebs: Cowens 19
Asts: Jo Jo White 9
Boston Garden, Boston
Attendance: 15,320
Referees: Richie Powers, Don Murphy

Game 5 was a triple-overtime contest that is sometimes referred to as "the greatest game ever played"[1][2][3][4] in NBA history. With the series tied 2-2, Boston took a huge lead at Boston Garden but could not hold it. The game was enhanced by several controversies.

Two controversies involved each team's use of timeouts:

(a) With the score tied at 95–95, Boston's Paul Silas attempted to call a timeout near the end of regulation with the Celtics out of timeouts. Referee Richie Powers appeared to have seen Silas signal the timeout, but did not grant it. If he had, the Celtics would have been socked with a technical foul, and the Suns would have been awarded a free throw that might have decided the outcome.

(b) The Suns' Paul Westphal also called a timeout with his team out of them, as further explained below.

Another set of controversies involved the clock;

(a) Shortly after hitting the game-tying free-throw with 22 seconds left in regulation, John Havlicek missed the second and rebounded his own miss. He then took a pass from Jo Jo White, dribbled to the right and uncharacteristically attempted a jump shot with eight seconds left (rather than waiting until the final seconds). Westphal rebounded the ball for Phoenix with five seconds left and signaled for a timeout which the referee granted, but the clock was not stopped until three seconds were left.

(b) With three seconds left in the first overtime and the score 101-101, John Havlicek took an inbounds pass and dribbled to the right baseline before attempting a game-winning shot. The clock appeared not to start until Havlicek stopped dribbling and ball-faked before he released the shot.

(c) Havlicek hit what appeared to be the game-winning shot at the end of the second overtime, but his shot went through the basket with two seconds left and the clock should have been stopped, as discussed below.

The most notable portion of the game was the final 20 seconds of the second overtime. Boston led at that point 109-106 (with the three-point basket not yet in existence). Phoenix had possession of the ball after taking its last timeout of the OT. In an amazing and frantic sequence, the following transpired:

(a) The Suns' **** Van Arsdale hit a short jumper from the corner, cutting the gap to 109–108,

(b) the Celtics inbounded the ball to John Havlicek, but the Suns' Paul Westphal came from seemingly out of nowhere to knock the ball out of Havlicek's hands. As his momentum was carrying him out of bounds, Westphal saved the ball to Van Arsdale, who passed it to Curtis Perry. Perry took an 18-footer from the left wing and missed.

(c) Havlicek went after the rebound on the Perry miss, but couldn't get a grip on it and ended up tapping the ball back to Perry on the left baseline.

(d) Perry then let fly from 15 feet (4.6 m) and made the shot to put the Suns ahead.

Phoenix suddenly led, 110-109, with just six seconds left, and the team looked poised to win their third straight game and grab a 3-to-2 edge in the series. John Havlicek (already of "Havlicek Stole the Ball" fame) responded with a drive and a leaning one-hander in traffic, that he banked in off the glass, putting Boston in front 111-110 as the horn sounded. The fans then poured onto the court to celebrate Boston's apparent victory. The Celtics returned to their locker room. As CBS analyst Rick Barry passionately and correctly pointed out, the ball went through the hoop with two seconds left and the clock should have been stopped. The officials apparently agreed with Barry and ordered the Celtics back onto the floor. The game was not over.

During the ensuing pandemonium, a fan attacked referee Richie Powers and other fans turned over one of the scorer's tables. After clearing the court (the fan who attacked Powers was arrested) and getting the Celtics back on the floor, the officials put one second back on the clock. Still, Phoenix's chances seemed slim, as they had the ball under their own basket with a second left. Then Paul Westphal of the Suns signaled for a time out that the Suns did not have. Although this resulted in a technical foul being called on Westphal, the play was critical for Phoenix, because the rules at the time gave Phoenix the same advantage (save for the technical foul shot) that they would have had with timeouts remaining to use; namely, possession of the ball at half court. Boston's Jo Jo White made the technical free throw, increasing Boston's lead to 112–110.

During the timeout, fans were still on the Boston Garden floor, even disturbing the Suns' huddle by their bench as coach John MacLeod was drawing up a play for a possible tying basket. The Suns' players repeatedly had to shove the fans out of the way, and Phoenix general manager Jerry Colangelo even threatened to not bring his team back to the Boston Garden for Game 7 if security couldn't maintain control. When play resumed, Phoenix's Gar Heard took the inbounds pass from Perry and made a buzzer-beating shot (a turn-around jumper at the top of the key) for the Suns that tied the score yet again, 112–112.

Boston eventually took a six-point lead, 128–122, late in the third overtime, as Glenn McDonald, a little-used Celtic reserve player, chipped in half a dozen. Westphal then scored the next four points for Phoenix (as part of a brilliant performance that featured several leaping, spinning, acrobatic bank shots) cutting the gap to 128–126, but he could not get the ball again; (although he very nearly did -- almost stealing a pass near half court as the third overtime wound down).

Celtics who fouled out (were disqualified due to six personal fouls) were Charlie Scott in the last minute of regulation, Dave Cowens with one minute left in the 2nd overtime, and Paul Silas in the 3rd overtime. Alvan Adams and Dennis Awtrey both fouled out for the Suns. Silas picked up his fifth foul late in the fourth quarter, but played the entire remainder, including all three overtime periods before fouling out late in the third.

The Suns had the lead in the game on only four occasions (twice in the second overtime) and never by more than 2 points. They led 95-94 late in the fourth, and 106-105 and 110-109 in the 2nd overtime. They also led in the third overtime by 114–112.

McDonald scored eight points in the game, all in overtime.

Jo Jo White led all scorers with 33 points.

Pat Riley was a reserve on the Suns' bench, but never played in the game.

 

[scott99]

They are both up there, but I think 2001 still takes the cake for me. I had the good fortune of being at both 36 and 49 (home for 51). I literally cried tears of joy when they won 36. I just screamed (for 30 seconds straight) when Butler made the interception at the end of 49. That was the ultimate of going from absolute bottom to absolute top in 5 seconds flat. At the end of 51 I was just numb. I couldn't believe it.

Your last sentence was me at the end of 51. Completely numb and had a hard time comprehending what I had just seen. Wish I had screamed and jumped up and down. But I was just in shock. Very quiet, and shaking a little bit.

49 was shocking to me as well, I just remember my nephew jumping off the couch saying "holy ****". Once again, I wasn't sure what happened, the INT was such a bang bang play, I wasn't sure he got it and hung on. I remember getting really excited when Seattle jumped offsides after the Pats took possession after the INT. That was awesome.

The 2 drives to get in field goal range in 36 and 38 were so exciting. Brady was just so calm and cool. But because of the Deflategate ********, 49 and 51 were the two highest sports euphoria I've felt. Never thought anything could top 49, but for me, 51 did.

I need the Pats to win a SB by 14+ just to save my heart.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Wait I want to change my answer...

Yes... so far