Coming in hot at #6 is Kawhi Leonard’s incredible postseason run with the Raptors that ultimately lead to an NBA championship. Now just to jog your memory, this 2019 Kawhi’s first season in Toronto. The year before Kawhi missed most of the season due to a mysterious quadricep injury, so many people did not know how well Kawhi would play in 2019 nearly missing almost a year of basketball. Well we got our answer for sure that postseason.
Kawhi lead the Toronto Raptors to become the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors went on to beat the #7 seed Orlando Magic 4-1.Next they beat the hyped up #3 seed Philadelphia 76ers in 7 games where Kawhi hit game-winning magical fade away shot at the buzzer like something you only see in NBA 2k.
Then, the Raptors went to play the #1 seed Milwaukee Bucks with the leagues MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo (aka the Greek Freak). The Raptors would beat them in 6 games behind Kawhi. The Raptors last battle would be against the #1 seed of the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors. Even though, the Warriors were missing superstar Kevin Durant, this was still a Warriors team that had 3 championships, a two-time MVP, and the splash brothers. It turned out that the Warriors were no match for Kawhi as the Klaw dominated on offense and defense beating the Warriors in 6 games, and winning Finals MVP.
Kawhi brought Toronto their first NBA championship ever, did it dominant fashion, all while overthrowing the Warriors dynasty. Kawhi was so dominant, analysts started calling him “The Terminantor.” Leonard averaged 30.5 points, 9.11 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in the playoffs. NBA fans questioned if Kawhi would come back the same, and he definitely did not. He came back better proving he was a top-3 player in the NBA.
6. Cavs 3-1 comeback against the 73-9 Warriors in the 2016 finals.
“It’s a man’s league. I guess his feelings just got hurt.”
These were the famous post-game words uttered by Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson after Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals, referring to LeBron James reacting after Draymond Green swung at James’ groin. The Warriors were riding high after taking a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers, just one game away from capping off their legendary 73-win season with a 2nd championship. The storylines were writing themselves: the 2016 Warriors were the greatest team of all time, and LeBron James couldn’t bring the big one home to the city of Cleveland.
Photo by Ball Memes
However, as every sports fan knows, it’s not over until it’s over. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving exploded in Game 5, with both players scoring 41 points apiece in a 112-97 Cavaliers victory that stunned the crowd at Oracle Arena. But it was just one game, right? After all, this Warriors team unstoppable, and LeBron just didn’t have what it takes. That is, until LeBron dropped 41 points again in a 115-101 victory, ending in Warriors point guard Stephen Curry fouling out and launching his mouthguard at a fan. It was all going back to Oracle Arena in California for Game 7, and there was a surprising lack of snide comments from Warriors players leading up to the game. Collars getting tight around their neck?
Game 7 was one for the ages. The match was a dogfight, with 20 lead changes between the teams. The Warriors seemed to start to pull away at halftime with a 49-42 lead, until Cavaliers shooting guard JR Smith came into the second half with back-to-back 3’s to tighten the game up. The score went back and forth until the final 2 minutes, when the Cavaliers’s Big 3 of James, Irving, and forward Kevin Love each had a massive play that will forever go down in Cleveland lore.
Photo by NBA
Tied at 89-all, LeBron James had the greatest block in NBA history, chasing Andre Iguodala across the court and stuffing Iguodala’s fast-break layup attempt. Next, Kyrie Irving caught Curry with his hand down and splashed a 3 over Curry to take a 92-89 lead. Finally with 30 seconds left, Kevin Love got switched onto Curry and proceeded to lock him down, causing Curry to throw up a brick. The Cavaliers got the rebound, LeBron iced the game with a free throw, and when the clock hit zero, LeBron James and the city of Cleveland were champions once again. 52 years of heartbreak wiped out, toppling perhaps the most arrogant team of all time, and coming back from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in the history of the NBA Finals. After that series, basketball fans around the country had no choice to agree that LeBron James was truly the King, and the city of Cleveland could finally celebrate once again.
*This article was written by a contributor who wishes to remain anonymous.
“At forward in his 21st season, the greatest Dallas Maverick in franchise history, the tall baller from the G, number 41, Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirk Nowitzki!!” echoed in the American Airlines Center on April 9, 2019 in what would be Nowitzki’s last home game. In typical Dirk fashion, he waited until after his last game in the house he built to let the fans know he was calling it quits. No farewell tour. No year long celebration like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and even baseball stars such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Even though many teams recognized the situation this past season like when Doc Rivers, coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, stopped the game to pay homage to to the legend, Dirk clearly never sought any special treatment. In his 21 seasons, Dirk was a professional who never sought unnecessary attention. It is because of this humility that I find it important to write this article. We must remember the retirement of the 2007 NBA MVP, the 2011 Finals MVP, the 14 time All-Star, and the 6th All-Time scorer in the history of the league.
When asked to discuss the top sports moments of 2019, Dirk Nowtizki retiring without a doubt must make the list. Not only did Dirk transform the game for big men shooters, he revolutionized the game for Europeans. Nowadays, it is not hard to find big men who can shoot such as Joel Embiid, Nikola Vucevic, Nikola Jokic, Karl Anthony-Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, and Anthony Davis. Kids growing up watching those stars today don’t see anything crazy about a seven-footer who can knock down the three. Yet, it was a rare skill in 1998 when Dirk was drafted out of Würzburg, Germany. No longer was a big man just a bully in the paint, it was now necessary to give them respect beyond the arc.
Video by Bleacher Report
Dirk was an example of the benefits that could come when drafting European talent. He created a serious interest for players in the EuroLeague and ironically paved the way for future Mavericks Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. Without his incredible success, the respect to the European talent pool may not be there.
Courtsey of Giphy
Lastly, Dirk did all of this with class and respect. Don’t get me wrong, he annoyed players. The fadeaway was tough to guard and Dirk knew how to sell the foul. He was also a bit of a liability on the defensive end of the court. But he never had a problem with a teammate. He was a likeable player and as a young kid from Germany, he handled becoming a celebrity in Dallas-Fort Worth well. He engaged with the community and most importantly, he remained loyal (tough to find and you may never find it again). He wanted to win with Dallas and towards the end of his career, Dirk routinely took pay cuts to try and get it done with the team who drafted him. As a kid myself born in 1996 and raised in Dallas, Dirk was a role model and I always found myself in the driveway trying to recreate his fade away. At a certain point, I even wanted him to leave the Mavericks to try and win 1 more. But he stayed. I can only hope the Mavericks provide their two big Europeans more support than Dirk had in his 21 seasons. As of right now, it looks like they have.
7. Dee Gordon’s home run against the New York Mets in 2016, one day after the death of teammate Jose Fernandez.
On September 25, 2016, Jose Fernandez, an MLB All-Star and one of the games most well-liked players, passed away due to a boating accident. Players and fans alike around the league were devastated. Fernandez was only 24 years old but had established himself as one of the premier pitchers in the league.
On Monday September 26, 2016, the Miami Marlins played their first game since Fernandez’s passing against the New York Mets. Dee Gordon, the 2B of the Marlins and one of Fernandez’s closest friends, was the leadoff hitter that day. Gordon, typically a left-handed hitter, stepped into the right-handed batters box wearing Fernandez’s helmet. After seeing the first pitch from Mets’ pitcher Bartolo Colon, Gordon proceeded to switch to the left-hand side of the plate. On a 2-0 fastball from Colon, Gordon promptly smacked a homerun to the right-field bleachers and began to weep uncontrollably as he rounded the bases. As he crossed home plate, he pointed to the sky in remembrance of his good friend. It was a moment that will be forever be remembered by baseball fans around the world.
Video by MLB
In the postgame interview, Gordon told a reporter “I don’t have kids, so hitting a homerun for Jose Fernandez is the best moment of my life.” It is in these moments where sports can truly bring everyone together. Dee Gordon’s homerun is one, as a baseball fan, I will never forget.
8. Marshawn Lynch’s Beastmode run against the New Orleans Saints in 2010.
Trying to milk the clock while holding onto a 34-30 lead in the 2010 NFC Wild Card Round, the Seahawks faced a 2nd and 10 on their own 33-yard line versus the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. Not many pundits had given the 7-9 Seahawks a chance in the game due to them being the first team with a losing record to make the postseason in NFL history. With nothing to lose and respect to gain, the Seahawks elected to hand off the ball to their midseason acquisition Marshawn Lynch on a power run. Lynch then activated his now infamous “Beast Mode” running style, and he broke eight attempted tackles by the Saints’ defenders. The run peaked when Lynch threw a stiff arm that sent Roman Harper flying to the grown, and Lynch added an exclamation mark by diving into the endzone to extend the Seahawks lead to double digits with 3 minutes and 22 seconds left in the game. The run left the crowd in such a frenzy that the roar registered on Seismograph readings.
Video by NFL
The Seahawks would go on to win the game 41-36. However, the great run had a greater impact than just propelling the Seahawks to the divisional round. The victory set the tone for the Pete Carroll era where the Seahawks went on to make the playoffs 8 times, the Super Bowl twice, and win Super Bowl XLVIII in the decade.
Quickly before we dive into this one, since not everyone has a great idea of how European soccer competitions, specifically the Champions League, are structured, we’ll give a quick run-down. This is pretty important background information to why this moment made our top 10 list for 2019. Feel free to skip this next paragraph if you have a decent understanding of the Champions League.
The UEFA Champions League is a tournament that sets out to crown one club as the champion of European club soccer. The structure is similar to the FIFA World Cup where 32 of the best teams from all of Europe are drawn into 8 groups. Then each group plays a home-and-home round robin schedule, and the top 2 teams from each group advance to the knockout stages. Each knockout fixture is determined over two matches, one game at each club’s home stadium, with the scores from both matches being aggregated to determine the winner. If the aggregate score is tied, then the first tie-breaker used to determine a winner is away goals. Whichever team scored more goals in their opponent’s stadium advances. If that doesn’t solve it, then extra time, and potentially penalty kicks, are utilized. The Champions League is *the* premier tournament in club soccer, with the final each year drawing 2-3x the viewership of the Super Bowl.
On to Liverpool and Barcelona. These two giants of clubs came into their semifinal tie with 5 Champions League titles a piece. This fixture was potentially the biggest headliner of the entire tournament as both teams were loaded with talent and play in two of the most famous stadiums in Europe. Barcelona, along with Lionel Messi, also featured two former Liverpool stars in its lineup in Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho who were sold for and €82M and €145M respectively. Liverpool, meanwhile, were seeking to avenge their loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in the season prior.
Liverpool played about as well as any team could in the intimidating atmosphere that is Camp Nou in Barcelona, but found themselves 3-0 down when the final whistle blew on the first leg of the tie on April 30. An opening goal by Suarez, followed by two from Messi (including an unbelievable free kick) were the difference.
Heading back home, Liverpool would need to score at least 3 goals to force extra time, but if Barcelona were to grab an ever-valuable away goal, Liverpool would then need 5 to advance. This would be a reasonably difficult feat against just about any club, but needing to accomplish it against Barcelona without the services of two of their three attackers in Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah seemed impossible.Things got off to a favorable start though as Divock Origi tapped in a follow up after a great run from captain Jordan Henderson to make the score 1-0 at halftime. Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum was subbed on at the start of the second half and had an immediate impact, scoring twice in quick succession to level the aggregate score by the 56th minute. Having climbed all the way back, the outcome would be decided in the last half hour of the game, plus extra time/penalties if needed. They would not be needed as it turned out. Some clever thinking by Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold on a corner kick will go down in history, as he took the corner quickly, and caught the Barcelona defense napping to find Origi alone in front of the net who guided the ball into the top corner. Leading 4-3 on aggregate in the 79th minute, Liverpool would grind out the final 10 minutes to complete one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.
The Reds would go on to defeat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Champions League final, collecting their 6th European title and first since 2005.
9. Stephen F. Austin beats #1 Duke at Cameron Indoor.
On November 26, Stephen F. Austin, a small school in East Texas, did the improbable by knocking off #1 Duke 87-85 in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Over the past 3 years, SFA has become known as a potential bracket buster come March, however Duke had not lost a home game in 150 games. The Blue Devils came into the game as 28 point favorites.
The Lumberjacks were able to stifle Duke’s offense the entire game and were able to take away the Blue Devil’s home-court advantage. Duke led by 5 at the half, however the Lumberjacks were able to bounce back in the 2nd half to force overtime. It was in overtime where the Lumberjack magic came to life as mass chaos would ensue.
With 15 seconds left, Duke’s Tre Jones missed a jump shot but Wendell Moore snagged the offensive rebound. Moore kicked it back out to Jack White who passed it back to Jones. Jones drove to the lane however the Lumberjack forced him to make an errant pass. The ball kicked away and was grabbed by Lumberjack Gavin Kensmil who then passed it to Nathan Bain. In a frantic dash across the court, Bain laid the ball in at the buzzer in front of the Cameron Crazies to give the Lumberjacks the upset victory.
Video by ACC Digital Network
As the Lumberjacks went into a frenzy on the court, Cameron Indoor was silent. In the post-game press conference, SFA coach Kyle Keller said “I told our players, banners can’t beat us tonight. The players have to beat us.” Anytime Duke loses, Americans around the country can rejoice. However, there is call for extra celebration when a mid-major like SFA can knock off Coach K’s team on their home-court.
A sixteen seed had never beaten a one seed in March Madness. The closest any sixteen seed had come to this impressive feat was in 1996 when Western Carolina lost 73-71 to Purdue. However, on March 16th 2018, history was made when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County beat the first ranked Virginia Cavaliers 74-54.
Virginia came into the tournament with championship aspirations as the number one overall seed. They went 31-2 including a 20-1 record in the ACC, arguably the best conference in the NCAA. They had the top-ranked defense in the country and were led by one of the best young minds in college basketball in head coach Tony Bennett. The Cavaliers came into the game as 20.5-point favorites making it the 2nd biggest upset in NCAA tournament history behind Norfolk State’s upset over Missouri in 2012.
On the other hand, the Retrievers were far less talented than the Cavs and were only in the NCAA tournament due to a last second 3-pointer from senior guard Jairus Lyles in the America East Conference championship over Vermont. As one would expect, the Retrievers came in as heavy underdogs and were projected to lose by 20.5 points according to the sportsbooks in Vegas.
However, on this night it was the Retrievers who played as if they were the heavy favorites. The once vaunted UVA defense had absolutely no answer for Lyles who scored a game high 28 points. In the words of Coach Bennett at the postgame press conference, it was a “thorough butt whipping.” America was stunned as millions of brackets around the country were now busted.
While the Retrievers put on a show on the court, it was their Twitter account who stole the hearts of Americans with some of the most memorable tweets of the decade.
The Retrievers would go on to lose in the next round against Kansas State, however their victory over the Cavaliers will live in infamy. In 2019, the Cavaliers would once again be a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. This time though the outcome was far different as they would go on to win the NCAA Division One basketball championship and celebrate by cutting the nets. No college basketball fan will ever forget where they were the night the sixteen seed beat the one seed.
Coming in at #10 for sports moments for the decade is the 2016 NCAA basketball championship where Villanova beat UNC 77-74 off a last second three-point shot. This game was a close back-and-fourth matchup between two powerhouse schools for the NCAA championship.
With 6 seconds left, UNC guard, Marcus Paige, hit an awkward double clutched 3- point shot to tie the game. 74-74. This was one of the most clutch shots seen. The defender jumped to block his shot, but Paiges double clutch allowed him to avoid the block, and still get the shot off. With just 6 seconds, left, most spectators were gearing up for overtime.
Kris Jenkins inbounds the ball to Villanova guard, Ryan Arcidiacono. Arcidiacono dribbles the ball up the floor to the 3- point line, and then turns around to flip the ball to forward, Kris Jenkins, who trailed Arcidiacono. Arcidiacono used his body to shield, so Jenkins could have clean 3-point shot. The shot goes up… and swish. Game over.
This national championship featured one of the best back and fourths in the final seconds of the decade. The game also featured big name players who went on to play in the NBA such as Villanova guards, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, as well as UNC forwards, Justin Jackson and Kennedy Meeks.
Coming in at #10 on sports moments of 2019 is Joe Burrow’s dominance in college football this season. Not only has his performance on the field been nothing short of spectacular, but he also has an incredible story to how he got to be the Heisman QB for the undefeated LSU Tigers.
Joe Burrow, the 3-star recruit out of Ohio, attended Ohio State University. It was there where he sat on the bench his first three seasons behind quarterbacks JT Barrett, and Cardale Jones. Burrow even got the nickname, “John Burrow,” out of mockery from his other teammates since JT’s first name was Joe. In his fourth year, Burrow lost the starting job to freshman, Dwayne Haskins. That is when Burrow transferred to LSU under Coach Orgeron. Burrow immediately became the starter and lead LSU to 10-3 and 13-0 records back to back years.
2019 was history in the making for quarterback Joe Burrow. Burrow lead to LSU Tigers to an undefeated season, and a #1 seed in the College Football Playoffs. He also won the Heisman trophy after being 15,000-1 odds for the award in the preseason. Burrow’s Heisman victory featured the largest margin of victor ever. Burrow also threw for 4,715 yards (ranked 2nd), 48 touchdowns (1st), and completed 77.9% of his passes (1st). In addition, Burrow won
Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year Award
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