This Day in Sports History: May 12

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Warriors are left to wonder what might have been, if the basketball had taken a different bounce on May 12 one year ago. Kawai Leonard’s buzzer-beater bounced five times and settled through the hoop, giving Toronto a 7th game win over Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semi-finals – the Warriors remember how things ended with the Raptors a month later.

Another memorable moment for the Warriors on this day in 1985, was when they joined six other teams in the NBA’s first draft lottery.  The Warriors tied for the worst record in the league that year, but they were seventh, and last, in the lottery.  They missed out on the big prize, Patrick Ewing, but didn’t fare so badly at number seven, taking Chris Mullin, an eventual Hall of Famer, whose jersey hangs in the rafters.

And on this day in 2009, the Giants trailed Washington in the bottom of the ninth.  Pablo Sandoval walked up to the plate and blasted a 2-run homer to win the game.