Career
He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the third round of the 1970 National Basketball Association Draft. He had an 15-year National Basketball Association career for four different 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.
Heard set an Oklahoma school record with 21 double-doubles for a season by a Sooner in 27 games during 1969-1970. lieutenant was finally broken by Blake Griffin on February 14, 2009.
Prior to the 1973-1974 National Basketball Association season, Heard and Kevin Kunnert were traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Buffalo Braves for John Hummer, a 1974 National Basketball Association Draft 2nd round pick and a 1975 National Basketball Association Draft 2nd round pick. Heard went on to rank in the top ten in rebounds and blocked shots that season.
Heard once played 86 games in an National Basketball Association season, which is 82 games long, when he was traded in the middle of the 1975-1976 National Basketball Association season from Buffalo to the Phoenix Suns.
The Shot
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.
lieutenant 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.
lieutenant swished through, sending the game into a third overtime.
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.
In addition to his playing career, Heard served as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks from 1993 - 1994 and the Washington Wizards from 1999 - 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.