Milt Palacio

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Milton Palacio
Nickname Milt, Captain Crunch, Milutin
Position Point guard
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg)
League Sinalco Superleague
Team КК Partizan
Born February 7, 1978 (1978-02-07) (age 30)
Los Angeles, California
Nationality USA /Belize
High school Junipero Serra High School
College Midland Junior College,
Colorado State
Draft Undrafted, 1999
Pro career 1999–present
Former teams Vancouver Grizzlies (1999-2000)
Boston Celtics (2000-2002)
Phoenix Suns (2002)
Cleveland Cavaliers (2002-2003)
Toronto Raptors (2003-2005)
Utah Jazz (2005-2006)

Milton S. Palacio (born February 7, 1978 in Los Angeles, California) is a professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA and currently with Serbia's Partizan Belgrade. He was born to Belizean parents and is a Belizean citizen.

Contents

[edit] Basketball career

[edit] College

Palacio attended Junipero Serra High School, located in Gardena, CA. He played college basketball at Midland Junior College and Colorado State University, going undrafted in 1999.

[edit] Professional career

From 1999-2006, Palacio played in the NBA for the Vancouver Grizzlies, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, and the Utah Jazz with a career scoring average of 4.8 points per game.

His most notable achievement was scoring a buzzer beater for the Celtics in their shocking victory over the New Jersey Nets on December 28, 2000. With the Nets leading 111-109 and inbounding the ball with less than 2 seconds remaining, Palacio stole a pass from Lucious Harris and threw up an off-balance shot from 30 feet away. Improbably, the shot swished through the net, giving the Celtics a 112-111 victory.[1] Basketball writers dubbed Palacio with the nickname "Miracle Milt", as a recognition of this incredible incident.[2]

Despite a solid season with the Jazz, Palacio was a free agent at the start of the 2006-2007 preseason. He eventually caught on with the Seattle SuperSonics, but was waived before the regular season start, unable to unseat Mike Wilks as the third-string point guard behind Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson.

In the 2007-08 season, Palacio began a European adventure, signing for ex-European champions KK Partizan Belgrade from Serbia. While struggling mightily at times to begin the year, he learned the European game quickly, playing some great basketball in the second half of the season and being named Euroleague's MVP in March, helping Partizan reach the last 8 of the competition for the first time in 10 years.

[edit] International career

He led Belize to a gold medal in the 1998 CARICOM Men's Basketball Tournament, which the country hosted. Palacio also held summer camps in his parents' homeland for aspiring Belizean basketball players.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Celtics beat Nets on Palacio's miracle 3-pointer" Associated Press, 29 December 2000.
  2. ^ #10 - Boston Celtics

[edit] External links