Play of the Day: Harrison Barnes – March 27, 2021
A reminder on The Horry Scale: It breaks down a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety night in November?) and celebration. Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, named for the patron saint of last-second answered prayers.
After presumably fielding offers leading up to this week’s trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings decided it would be better to just hang on to Harrison Barnes.
Good call.
The veteran forward calmly drilled a turnaround 3-pointer as time expired to give Sacramento a dramatic 97-96 win over Cleveland. The shot gives the Kings their fourth consecutive win, with the Play-In Tournament suddenly well within reach.
GAME SITUATION: Down two and out of timeouts, the Kings were forced to execute a full-court inbounds play with just 1.6 seconds left. Sacramento didn’t have Grant Hill and Christian Laettner, but they decided De’Aaron Fox and Barnes were the best candidates to pull off the impersonation for at least one night.
DIFFICULTY: This is the rare occurrence where the pass is just as difficult as the shot. Fox’s one-handed inbounds throw would have done any quarterback proud, landing right into Barnes’ ready hands. Even so, to turn and shoot over a defender draped all over him — with a second closing in swiftly from behind — is no easy feat. Taken all together, the odds of the play being successfully executed within such a small window were minuscule at best.
CELEBRATION: The best part might have been just before the rest of the Kings mobbed the hero of the night. Barnes, exultant after drilling the game-winner, gave Collin Sexton a hearty pat on the rear that seemed to say, “Good game, I got you this time, young fella.”
After that, Barnes allowed himself to be jubilantly mobbed around the court by his Kings teammates. It was an unfiltered reminder of the youth of this team, and how significant moments like this can be in both the short and long-term.
GRADE: Sacramento is suddenly just 1.5 games back of Golden State for the final Play-In spot. Their best young player (Fox) and most dependable veteran (Barnes) are the reasons why. The play itself and the lift it provides are enormous for a team hoping to snap the league’s longest active playoff drought. Four Horrys
