“Once a week I’m reminded of that shot” – Allan Houston reflects on his game-winning shot that upset the Heat in ’99 originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Allan Houston had a great NBA career, but his stint with the New York Knicks made him one of the most celebrated players in the league. He was best known as a sharpshooter, but his legacy was immortalized by one of the most iconic shots in NBA history.
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During the 1999 playoffs, in a hard-fought first-round series, the eight-seeded Knicks upset the No. 1 team in the East, the Miami Heat. It was Game 5, and the series boiled down to one last play. Houston caught the ball, pulled up a runner, and hit the game-winning shot off a friendly bounce to lift New York to a 78-77 victory.
According to Houston, the exact picture of how the shot went in already lingers, but one way or another, he is also often reminded of its impact to this day.
“Gus Johnson’s call of my last-second shot against the Heat in the ’99 playoffs will forever be imprinted in my mind,” Houston wrote in a special piece for The Players’ Tribune in 2020. “At least once a week I’m reminded of that shot — whether by someone I meet at the airport or someone on line at the grocery store, or what have you. I’m constantly reminded of what it meant to me, and definitely … what it meant to New York.”
The true meaning of Houston’s historic play
Many NBA fans interpret Houston’s game-winning shot in Miami in various ways. Some hail it as one of the greatest game-winning shots in playoff history, while others see it as one of the most exhilarating moments in Knicks history.
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Yet, Houston himself has cultivated a deeper appreciation for that memorable shot over the years. He has come to understand that the true significance of that moment transcends, showcasing his ability to perform under pressure or to defy expectations with unwavering courage.
As he further reflected on that shot, “H20” aimed to enlighten both his fans and the Knicks faithful about how a single play could summarize an athlete’s purpose. He wanted them to relate to what it genuinely feels like to experience such a huge accomplishment.
For Houston, it encapsulated the essence of everything he worked hard for and prepared for in his journey. Ultimately, it meant a lot not only to his legacy but also to his personal life.
“But I gotta say, in the more than 20 years since that shot dropped, a funny thing has happened,” Houston shared. “These days, when I’m reminiscing or speaking to young people about it, I don’t mention the circumstances, or the tension. I don’t even really highlight the fact that the shot went in. Instead, I focus on the preparation and the execution. And I talk about … the follow-through! Which really is a metaphor for life.”
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“When that shot bounced in, everything in that moment was about the present, and what we’d just accomplished in beating our biggest rivals, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, on such a grand stage,” the Knicks legend reflected. “But a few seconds later, I found myself flashing back home to Louisville, to when I was seven years old putting up shots out back on the hoop my father had built for me on a utility garage door, and just straight up imagining — dreaming about — making a shot like that.”
“That shot, I understand now, really was the culmination of preparation, execution and follow-through on every level,” he concluded.
Houston faced more challenges after his game-winning shot
Though Houston’s game-winning shot made the impossible happen for the Knicks in that postseason, it wasn’t the team’s crowning glory yet. In fact, it was only the start of an even more challenging journey ahead of them en route to an NBA championship.
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As the last-seeded team, Houston and the Knicks knew they had no choice but to be confident and mentally prepared for the rest of the playoffs. Despite upsetting and eliminating the No. 1 team, the Knicks carried a mindset that the other teams would still view them as underdogs.
However, that was never the case. If anything, the Knicks over-delivered and went on to beat their next opponents, with Houston as one of the team’s most consistent performers. In that postseason, “H20” averaged 18.5 points per game, stepping up without the then-injured Knicks star center Patrick Ewing.
When New York reached the Finals, the Knicks faithful thought there was no better way to cap the season off with a championship win. As for Houston, he knew he needed to have the mental and physical strength he had when he nailed that game-winning runner in the first round of the playoffs to eliminate the Heat.
Unfortunately, the Knicks suffered a tough loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Nevertheless, that incredible run still left a lasting impact on the Knicks fans, specifically Houston’s game-winning shot that started it all.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 29, 2025, where it first appeared.