Teresa Weatherspoon couldn’t watch “The Shot” for years. It’s still not the easiest subject to discuss.
Weatherspoon is the head coach of the Chicago Sky, but 25 years ago she was a guard for the New York Liberty, facing the Houston Comets in the 1999 WNBA Finals. Houston led 67-65 with 2.4 seconds left in Game 2 of the best-of-three series on a basket by Tina Thompson. The Comets had a 1-0 series lead and were looking to seal the deal and win their third straight championship.
It would take a minor miracle for Liberty to win — and Weatherspoon did it before 16,285 fans at Houston’s Compaq Center. She caught an inbounds pass from Kym Hampton and unleashed a desperation 50-foot shot that she smashed in to give Liberty an improbable 68-67 victory on Sept. 4, 1999.
It was one of the first iconic moments in WNBA history.
However, the downside for Liberty was that they lost the third game the next day.
“I wouldn’t look at it for years because we didn’t win the championship,” Weatherspoon said.
Her difficulty talking about that period extends beyond the playoffs. Weatherspoon played the entire season with a heavy heart. Her 19-year-old nephew, Anthony, had died in a car accident weeks before the start of the regular season. On top of that, Houston guard Kim Perrot, one of Weatherspoon’s closest friends, died of complications from lung cancer on Aug. 19, two weeks before the start of the Finals.
“That year was probably one of the hardest years for me and my family at the time,” Weatherspoon said. “And when that shot went in, only my teammates knew what me and my family were thinking at the time. It was bigger than what most people think, which is something I never really talk about.
“It gave us another chance to play another game, which was great, a great opportunity to play with (a) great basketball team. But it also meant something to me and our family.”
The improbable bucket stunned Comets fans and players. A supposed championship celebration began prematurely when confetti fell from the rafters. Few outside of Weatherspoon and the Liberty expected an immediate response after Thompson’s basket.
“You could hear someone on the side saying, ‘Stop the confetti!’ A lady was yelling that,” Hampton said. “As we were celebrating, you could see confetti falling.”
Hampton credits Weatherspoon not only for making the shot, but for keeping her composure beforehand. Hampton said she was down after Thompson made the go-ahead basket, as she was the player on the Liberty who emphasized solid defense, only to have Thompson make the shot over her.
“I’m hanging my head, you know, like, ‘Oh my God, here we go again,'” Hampton said. “And Spoon’s like, ‘Hurry up! Hurry up! Get it out!'”
Weatherspoon said she didn’t practice half-court shots. She said Liberty teammate Becky Hammon — now head coach of the Las Vegas Aces — often won post-practice half-court shot contests. But the ball didn’t end up in Hammon’s hands in those final seconds.
Hampton said she intended to roll the ball to Weatherspoon, but saw Thompson make a defensive move. Hampton then threw the ball to Weatherspoon, who freed himself just enough for the attempt.
“Nobody was standing to my right, so it gave me a chance to throw that thing,” Weatherspoon said. “When I got the chance to shoot, it felt like forever — it really felt like forever. I knew I just got the chance to throw it, and it went in for another chance to catch the Comets and win.”
New York Liberty teammates rush Teresa Weatherspoon after her game-winning shot during Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals against the Houston Comets. (Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
Houston coach Van Chancellor said Weatherspoon’s shot led to another sleepless night. At the time, Games 2 and 3 of the WNBA Finals were played on back-to-back days, so there wasn’t much time to recover. He didn’t know what to tell the team the next day, but the Comets continued to control the series because they had home-field advantage.
“I spent the whole night thinking, ‘What am I going to do to get us back the next night?'” Chancellor said. “I was so relieved that we won the championship. We almost let it slip away. I was just exhausted.”
Houston won Game 3 59-47, and while the Comets had won three in a row, neither team will ever forget “The Shot.” Chancellor said Weatherspoon’s bucket still comes up. He expects to see Weatherspoon at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame festivities this fall and knows 1999 will come up.
“She’s going to say, ‘Yeah, I shot it, but you got my ring,'” Chancellor said. “And that’s all that matters to me.”
“It gave us an extra day,” Hampton said. “It would have been more of a moment (for us) if it had led to the championship.”
Weatherspoon has plenty to be proud of surrounding her Hall of Fame career. But it doesn’t change the fact that Houston still has that Game 3 win from 25 years ago that cost them a championship.
And Weatherspoon knows that when she sees anyone from that team, The Shot and Game 3 come up.
“They know I’m still mad about it,” Weatherspoon said. “I give credit where credit is due. They were a great basketball team. We gave it everything we had to win.”
— The AthleticsJon Greenberg contributed to this story.
(Top photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
