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? — along with 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.
The Jazz dominated for much of the night at Utah’s Vivant Home Smart Arena, leading by as many as 22 in their Friday clash with the Bucks. But that advantage was gone as the two teams battled through the fourth quarter, with the Bucks actually taking a brief one-point lead before earning a chance to steal victory with one well-executed play in the final seconds. They turned it over instead, gifting that opportunity over to the Jazz with 1.3 seconds left. And unlike the Bucks, they ran their play to perfection, with the newly signed Bojan Bogdanovic sprinting into the corner and knocking down the game-winning 3 as time expired to give the Jazz a 103-100 thriller.
DIFFICULTY: You could scarcely ask for a better look with so little time on the clock. And it didn’t take any technical wizardry, either. Bogdanovic simply cut hard enough to create a step of separation from his defender, Khris Middleton, took the inbound pass from Joe Ingles and fired. Interestingly, Bogdanovic wouldn’t have been in that spot had he not asked Jazz coach Quin Snyder to switch him and Mike Conley on a play they worked on that morning at shootaround.
GAME SITUATION: A game-winner in regulation wasn’t looking too likely for Utah as Milwaukee’s George Hill stripped Donovan Mitchell with the score tied and just 2.3 seconds remaining. But the Jazz came up with some defense of their own on the ensuing possession, immediately trapping Middleton in the corner and forcing him to travel. Even better, they did it with just enough time to give themselves a shot at victory.
CELEBRATION: Standard rush-the-court-and-smother-the-hero stuff. The real fun came during Bogdanovic’s postgame interview, when he saw Mitchell rushing at him with a full cooler of ice water and, like a little kid at a pool party, stood there waiting to be doused.
INCOMMMING 🗣 pic.twitter.com/dYH04RuUG5
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) November 9, 2019
GRADE: You can never be happy after blowing a 22-point lead. But Bogdanovic’s shot at least salvaged the win, and left the home crowd buzzing over what will surely be one of the highlight wins of their season. 4 Horrys.
