Watch Buddy Hield’s Motown Miracle from every angle

Buddy Hield hit a shot for the ages yesterday to lift the Kings to victory over the Detroit Pistons. It was a game that Sacramento had trailed for almost the entirety, but a late run, almost singlehandedly carried out by Hield, allowed the Kings to come back and steal it.

With 3:26 left and the Kings down 7, Buddy Hield went nuclear. He scored 15 of Sacramento’s final 17 points, including a miraculous one footed leaning three pointer after bobbling the inbounds pass to beat the buzzer and win the game outright. The original playcall by coach Dave Joerger would have seemed to call for Buddy to throw the ball to a cutting Willie Cauley-Stein, who was left wide open with a lane to the basket, but after Buddy mishandled the pass he was forced to throw up a shot. Of course it helps when the guy shooting the ball is one of the best shooters in the entire NBA.

Buddy finished with 35 points on the night, including 7 of 9 from distance. Buddy has now made 156 threes on the year in 46 games. For comparison he hit 176 all of last year. On the season only James Harden and Steph Curry have made more threes than Buddy, and as of right now, Buddy is shooting a slightly higher percentage than Steph (45.6% to 45.4%). Buddy’s on pace to have the best shooting year for a Sacramento King ever over guys like Peja Stojakovic and Mitch Richmond, and one of the best in NBA history, and it’s only his 3rd season in the NBA. Not only should Buddy be considered one of the most improved players in the NBA, he should be getting legitimate All-Star buzz.

This Kings season has been one of the best in the long time and the Kings are still in the playoff hunt well into January and it’s thanks to the improvement of guys like Buddy Hield and a never give up mentality. This team has a bright future ahead of it.