25 years later, no one moment has more clearly defined a Spurs franchise that ranks among the best in all of sports.

Sean Elliott image, Spurs logo, Alamodome image

It is the biggest singular moment in San Antonio Spurs’ history. The “Memorial Day Miracle” helped usher in an era that would see the franchise go on a two-decade run rarely seen in sports annals. Twenty-five years later, we take you through 25 encompassing moments to represent the 25 years since Sean Elliott’s tip-toe three-pointer vs. the Portland Trail Blazers to win Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals.

25. The high-arcing shot in which Elliott avoided stepping out of bounds by shooting over a fully extended Rasheed Wallace came a year after the Silver and Black’s 25th season. It helped launch a second quarter century, which ended in 2023-2024, that transformed the Spurs into a model organization across the landscape.

24. Games the Spurs had won that year in the Alamodome heading into that series vs. Portland. The very building that erupted with the unforgettable shot served as the team’s home from 1993 to 2002.

23. Years Elliott has worked as the Spurs lead analyst for their broadcast team. Combined with his playing days, the Arizona native has been a part of the organization in every single decade since the late 1980s, cementing himself as a franchise icon.

22. Consecutive seasons the Spurs qualified for the playoffs. It’s an NBA record that was then in its infancy with a second straight postseason appearance in 1999.

21. Tim Duncan’s jersey number. The catalyst for that magical 1999 run, that next month the greatest power forward of all-time would win the first of five Larry O’Brien trophies over a career that lands him on any serious list of top ten players ever with two NBA MVPs, three Finals MVP’s, 15 All-NBA selections and an All-Star Game co-MVP.

20. Years to that point since probably the biggest heartbreak in franchise history. Then a member of the Eastern Conference, the Spurs blew a 3-1 lead in the 1979 conference finals before suffering a tough defeat in that Game 7 vs. the Washington Bullets.

19. The span of years between Western Conference Finals appearances for the Trail Blazers. While the Memorial Day Miracle served as a springboard for the Spurs, Portland went back the following season but didn’t get to that point again until 2019.

18. The Spurs biggest deficit on May 31, 1999. It turns out a rally that started in the third quarter that afternoon would foreshadow the improbable run the franchise would go on for the next two decades.

17. Mario Elie’s jersey number in San Antonio. The hard-nosed veteran was not only critical to their success, he also embodied a roster overhaul the off-season before in which the club also added other key role players like Steve Kerr, Antonio Daniels, Jerome Kersey, and Malik Rose in an attempt to surround second-year star Tim Duncan with a deep roster that could compete.

16. Seasons that Avery Johnson played in the NBA. The Spurs starting point guard would hit a late go-ahead shot less than a month later in the title-clinching Game 5 vs. the New York Knicks. It was easily the highlight of a career that saw him play for six teams and multiple stints with three different teams, including three with the Spurs where he found a home from 1994-2001.

15. The number of years it took for the Spurs and Blazers to meet again in the playoffs. The span also book-ended San Antonio’s championships with the 2014 (SA beat Portland 4-1 win in the second round that year) title serving as their most recent.

14. Seasons in the NBA for David Robinson. The Hall-of-Fame center, who retired in 2003 after spearheading the Spurs through most of the 1990s, led the Silver and Black in scoring in those ’99 Western Conference Finals at 17.5 points per game.

13. Division titles the Spurs have won since the season that included the “Memorial Day Miracle.” It’s a number that correlates to their standing as the winningest franchise, percentage-wise, in NBA history.

12. Number of seasons Sean Elliott played in the NBA. The third overall pick of the 1989 draft was dealing with kidney failure when he hit the incredible shot. With his brother Noel as a match, Elliott underwent surgery that summer. Less than two years after helping the Spurs to their first championship, he became the first pro athlete to return following a kidney transplant and played one more season, retiring in 2001.

11. Points per game for Elliott in 1999. The two-time All-Star averaged 11.2 PPG during the season and 11.9 in the playoffs. Thanks to 9,659 career points with the Spurs, the former Arizona Wildcat ranks seventh on the club’s scoring list.

10. Spurs Conference Finals appearances, including the year of the once-in-a-lifetime shot. The franchise had made four conference finals in their first 25 seasons.

9. The number of seconds remaining in the game when Elliott gave his team the late lead. Following a time out, Jim Jackson and Walt Williams would each get tough attempts before the clock hit zero.

8. The “Memorial Day Miracle” powered the Spurs to their eighth straight victory. It came in the midst of 12 consecutive wins in those ’99 playoffs.

7. Spurs sweeps since. In fact, that year alone the Silver and Black matched their previous number of sweeps in franchise history with two.

6.  The number of three-pointers Elliott hit that Memorial Day on seven attempts from beyond the arc. His 22 points were one shy of Duncan’s game-high 23.

5. The number of NBA championships the Spurs have won since that last Memorial Day of the 1990s. They had never even made The Finals before that moment.

4. A 4-0 series win vs. the Trail Blazers is what essentially resulted from Elliott’s historic shot. Portland had lost the opening game of the series by just four points but veered off after the Game 2 dagger, getting blown out by 22 and 14 in Oregon.

3. Gregg Popovich’s ranking in all-time playoff wins among NBA head coaches. At 170 career postseason victories, the Spurs Hall of Famer is just one behind Pat Riley and 59 back of Phil Jackson. The “Memorial Day Miracle” proved pivotal in a season (his third as an NBA head coach) that would provide a launching pad for the winningest coach in league history.

2. The date the ensuing November in which San Antonians voted on whether to build a new arena. A series loss to the Blazers would’ve continued a long-held belief that the Spurs were good, but never good enough. That said, while the measure probably would’ve passed on November 2 because of the presence of a young Tim Duncan, choosing to raise the hotel and car rental tax in a city served well by tourism proved an afterthought following the franchise’s first championship.

1. The margin of victory in the 86-85 win – a triumph that has far outlived the day. Before that afternoon, the Spurs didn’t hit those kinds of shots. Those moments were reserved for other teams, sometimes opponents in gut-wrenching fashion. 25 days later, the Silver and Black were hoisting their first Larry O’Brien Trophy in New York. 25 years later, no single moment embodies one of the most successful franchises in all of sports.