Luke Kennard

With a minute remaining in the first half of a mid-season matchup against the Washington Wizards, the LA Clippers trailed by a demoralizing 35 points. With 11 seconds in the final frame and their opponent at the line, the deficit was a more palatable six. Well, good things happen to those with faith. Faced with an opportunity to etch their names in the history books, the visiting Clippers regrouped with a timeout after the aforementioned free throw fell short, then got the ball directly in the hands of 25-year-old sharpshooter Luke Kennard for an effortless 32-footer with 8.2 seconds on the clock. Infused by momentum in what was now a one-possession game, Kennard and company forced an emergency timeout at the baseline and then forced a subsequent five-second violation to set the stage for the greatest NBA comeback in a quarter century. After cutting free from his check on the perimeter, a fired-up Kennard corralled a hand-off at the top of the key, then leapt sideways to get off a game-tying triple while drawing enough contact for the four-point opportunity. Kennard’s successful free throw, his 25th point of the night, gave his squad the lead for the first time of the entire contest on January 25, 2022.