The Ten Greatest Shots in Process History
Ben hit a three, but is it number one?
Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and is now writing for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.
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You know it’s been an up-and-down start to the season when your team is 5-0 at home and has gotten booed in three of those five wins. Accounts can certainly differ at the moment for how the Sixers are doing and what, if anything, The Real Problem is, but obviously there’s a lot to talk about with this team right now. And one of those things is how 14 games into the season, we’ve already seen two of the most memorable shots of the post-Hinkie era -- one that united the team and kept the good times rolling, and one that tantalized fans and teammates with what it could mean, even though it still might very well mean nothing.
As you know by now, the Rights to Ricky Sanchez (and If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second Rounders) is a Context Establishment, so it felt an appropriate time to rank these shots within the annals of Process jump-shot history. No layups or dunks this time around, and for the sake of easing redundancy, we’ll pretend that preseason doesn’t count even though it obviously does. Here’s our top 10 -- with honorable mention of course to every Tony Wroten half-court heave, every heavily worked Henry Sims 15-footer, and two out of every five Hollis Thompson threes from the corner or wing.
10. Jimmy Butler game-winning three against the Nets / Jimmy Butler game-winning three against the Hornets (2018)
These shots came in pretty quick succession early in Jimmy Butler’s Sixers career -- looking near identical, as many Twitter videos demonstrated -- and proved that Jimothy was a different breed from all of the so-called closers we’d seen come up not-so-big for the Sixers of the previous decade of post-Iverson ball. (I don’t care what they say -- I still miss you, Jimmy, you insufferable prick.)
9. Spencer Hawes finger-guns shot against the Bucks (2013)
Like a great rock single that came out in 2012 and suffers on end-of-decade lists because it’s tough to see how it stayed relevant over the 2010s as its influence dwindled, we might be underrating just how impactful this Hawes shot was at the time, a true representative moment of the fantastically frisky 2013-14 Inaugural Process Ballers. Still, feels a long time ago now, and still, fuck Spencer Hawes kinda.
8. Furkan Korkmaz’s corner three against the Blazers (2019)
The wild thing about this shot is not just what a moment of joy and togetherness it apparently created for the Sixers in its aftermath, as recently reported by ESPN’s Zach Lowe, but how quickly all of that disintegrated almost immediately afterwards. We might still be paying off the karmic debt from this one, though hopefully Nikola Jokic helped us put a decent-sized dent in that recently.
7. Markelle Fultz his first three against Bulls (2018)
Don’t forget about what a big deal this was, when at the time Fultz hitting a triple seemed only slightly more likely than Simmons ever doing so, after being the victim of a season’s worth of shoulder witchcraft. Fultz seemed like he might even have an actual Normal to get back to -- didn’t happen for us, and before we get too excited in either direction about him regaining his confidence and his stroke in Orlando, he’s only 6-29 from deep there too.
6. Isaiah Canaan three-and-one against the Warriors (2016)
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The amazing thing about this legendary play is that for the lore it has in the community, you’d assume it was a go-ahead score against the 73-9 Warriors, or at the very least tied the game against them. Nope -- just cut the lead to two after the free throw. (Ish Smith later tied the game on a breakaway dunk, before Harrison Barnes stole it for Golden State with a corner three.) This is the kind of stuff we had no choice but to canonize from the 10-72, Jahlil Okafor-led ‘15-’16 Sixers.
5. T.J. McConnell game-winner over Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks (2017)
You can bet that if T.J. “The New York Strangler” McConnell had been in the game on Wednesday, he woulda been so fuckin’ amped by the Simmons three that the Knicks would’ve been down by 25 by the end of the first half. Come home soon Teej.
4. Jimmy Butler’s game-sealing jumper against Boston (2019)
The endless replays. The zoomed-in reaction shots on every rapturous fan in the crowd. The Twitter videos setting the shot to emo anthems. An introduction to the East-contending Sixers. (Btw, quick honorable mention to Jimmy’s triple off the JoJo kickout against the Raptors in Game Two, a personal favorite from last postseason.)
3. Ben Simmons’ three-pointer against New York (2019)
Maybe this would’ve been top two if I had seen it go up in real time. I had my head down, watching at the Billboard offices with FOTP Jason Lipshutz, until I heard him reacting to it going up and snapped to attention just in time to watch it drop. I’ll never forget where I was, and neither will any of the rest of us, but I do wonder if positive memories of this will fade if Ben doubles down on his “What? I already made one, what more do you want?” stubbornness over the remainder of the season.
2. The Marco Belinelli Confetti Shot against Boston (2018)
If you’re filming a lightly fictionalized recounting of the history of the Process, do you start at the end of regulation of Game Four against Boston in the ‘18 ECSFs -- with the game-winning shot that wasn’t, and the confetti releaser’s subsequent run for the Jersey border -- and then zoom back out to talk about all the rest? I think you probably do.
1. The Mike Scott “Cash Out” three in the first round against Brooklyn (2019)
It created a folk hero and a(nother) catchphrase, it sealed the first round for us, it put the final… I wanna say honeycomb? … in the Mike Scott Hive, and it kinda cemented a general team culture and character. It’s a pretty easy No. 1 for me. And while we’re here, another shout to Mike Scott’s four huge triples (and one huge mental gaffe) on Wednesday, an inspired callback to last year’s game against the Warriors where he hit six threes and then intentionally fouled with the Sixers only down three and 40 seconds to go.