Acie Law

American basketball player (born 1985)

Acie Law IV (born January 25, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. In his four seasons at Texas A&M University, Law scored 1,653 points and was credited with 540 assists. Nicknamed "Captain Clutch" for his ability to take over the game late, Law is well known among Texas A&M Aggie basketball fans for "The Shot," his buzzer beating 3 pointer to beat the arch rival Texas Longhorns at Reed Arena on March 1, 2006, as well as for his play in the Aggies' 69–66 upset win against Kansas on February 3, 2007. Due to his contributions to Texas A&M, the Texas A&M athletic department hung Law's No. 1 jersey on the rafters in Reed Arena. He became the first Aggie in any sport to have the honor. After his time at Texas A&M, Law was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft. He spent time with several National Basketball Association (NBA) teams between 2007 and 2010. Following his NBA period, he had a very successful career in Europe between 2011 and 2014, winning the EuroLeague twice in 2012 and 2013 with Olympiacos.

Acie Law IV was born in Dallas to Acie and Dolores Law. Law was recruited by the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Connecticut, University of Texas at Austin and Georgia Tech. In order to stay close to home, and because he wanted to have an immediate impact,

As a junior at Kimball High School in Dallas, Law led his team to a 29–7 record and the state Class 5A championship game, averaging 17.8 points per game and 6.0 assists. Law's team lost the state championship game when the other team's point guard, Chris Ross of San Antonio John Jay High School, made a shot from half court at the buzzer as time expired. Law's performance was enough to earn him all state honors, as well as district Most Valuable Player. Law also had the distinction of being the only junior to be named to The Dallas Morning News All Area Team. As a freshman, Law started 12 of the team's 27 games, including 10 of the last 11. With an assist to turnover ratio of 2.00, Law ranked fourth in the Big 12 Conference, and was the leading freshman in the conference. His average 3.9 assists per game ranked eighth in the conference. After seeing a video of UTEP's NCAA trip the year before Law decided that he wanted to experience that feeling too, and committed to staying at A&M. Law's commitment paid off, as under Gillispie the team improved from 7–21 to 21–10, winning half of their conference games and earning an invitation to the NIT. The team had their best start since opening 16–2 in the 1959–1960 season, as well as their best conference opening since the inception of the Big 12. On February 1, 2007, Law was named one of the seventeen finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented annually to the nation's top collegiate point guard. He went on to win the award. In a historic moment on February 3, 2007, Law's Aggies became the first Big 12 South team (in 32 attempts) to ever beat the then Number 6 Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas led for much of the game, but Law scored 10 of A&M's final 13 points to ensure the victory for the Aggies, and Big 12 Player of the Week honors for himself. Two days later the team beat then Number 25 Texas, their twenty first straight home win, making them the sole leader of the Big 12. Although forced to leave the game for three minutes after hitting the floor hard and injuring his leg, Law earned 21 points and a school record 15 assists in the 100–82 victory over their archrivals. Following the team's win over Texas, Law was named the Sports Illustrated Player of the Week. Law again proved his ability to make plays that matter in the Aggies' second game against Texas on February 28, 2007. Playing all 50 minutes during the Aggies' double overtime 98–96 loss, Law scored a season high 33 points, with 5 assists and five turnovers. His three pointer at the end of regulation tied the game, sending the teams into overtime. Another three pointer with 26 seconds left in the first overtime again tied the game, leading to a second overtime. Fouled at the end of the second overtime so that he would not be able to rescue the Aggies with another last second three pointer, Law deliberately missed his second free throw in the hopes that the Aggies could recover the ball and score again. Law's outstanding season earned him the honors of being on the AP 1st Team All American squad. He also made Dick Vitale's 1st Team All American squad as players such as Arron Afflalo of UCLA, Alando Tucker of Wisconsin, and Nick Fazekas of Nevada did. Although the Aggies were the number two seed for the Big 12 Conference Tournament, they played poorly in their first game in the quarterfinals of the tournament and were eliminated in a loss to Oklahoma State. Law had only ten points on five for twelve shooting. On Selection Sunday, however, the Aggies were rewarded for their regular season play with a Number 3 seed in the South region of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Exhibiting his trademark poise in front of an unfriendly crowd during a tough second round game against Louisville, Law again provided a number of big shots. Hitting 13 of his 15 free throw attempts, he ended the game with 26 points, including the final two points of the game. The Aggie's 72–69 victory earned them a berth in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1980. In a show of good sportsmanship, Law spent time after the game consoling disappointed Louisville freshman Edgar Sosa, complimenting him on his performance. On March 22, however, Law and his teammates faced the #2 seed Memphis Tigers. The score was close throughout and Law had a chance to put A&M up by three on a break away lay up that he missed with just a few seconds to play. The Aggies lost in a narrow contest 65–64, ending his collegiate career. Acie Law was the first Texas Aggie to be unanimously selected to the All Big 12 first team, Although his college jersey read "Law IV" on the back, his NBA jersey just reads "Law," though he wears the number 4. In his rookie season, Law averaged 4.2 points and 2.0 assists, and made 20.6% of his three point attempts as well as 40% of his field goal shots. He missed ten games due to a right ankle sprain. In the 2008 summer preseason, Law made the All Revue summer league first team, along with four other players. He averaged 16.2 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.2 rebounds, leading the Hawks to a 4–2 record. He ranked sixth in scoring and sixth in assists overall.

On June 25, 2009, Law was traded to the Golden State Warriors along with Speedy Claxton for Jamal Crawford.

On November 16, 2009, Law was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats along with Stephen Jackson in exchange for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanović.

On February 18, 2010, Law was traded to the Chicago Bulls along with Ronald Murray in exchange for Tyrus Thomas.

On August 5, 2010, Law signed a one year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. He was released by the Grizzlies on December 4, 2010, after appearing in 11 regular season games for Memphis.

On December 9, 2010, Law signed with the Golden State Warriors.

In July 2011, Law signed a one year contract with the Serbian team Partizan Belgrade of the ABA League. In January 2012, Law joined Olympiacos Piraeus of the Greek Basket League until the end of the season. In the summer of 2012, he re signed with Olympiacos. With Olympiacos, he won the EuroLeague 2012 and 2013 championships, as well as the 2011–12 Greek League championship. Law was then unable to finish the 2013–14 season, due to a knee injury. He played his last game in his professional career on December 29, 2013, in a Greek League game against KAOD. In June 2014, he parted ways with Olympiacos.

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Law reunited with Gillispie and became a volunteer assistant coach in 2015 at Ranger College, a junior college nearly two hours away from Dallas. He then started working as a college basketball analyst for Texas A&M fan site TexAgs. During 2023 24 season he was on the staff of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While in junior high, Law broke his right hand during basketball practice. In order to continue to compete, the naturally right handed Law taught himself to shoot the basketball with his left hand. After recovering from his injury, Law was able to shoot with either hand, but as of 2007 still primarily relied on his left hand to shoot from a long distance. His left handed jump shots are unusual, however, because the ball has hardly any spin, instead flying straight into the basket. After much examination, Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie realized that this is because Law uses his right thumb when he shoots, negating the spin. To help improve his form, Gillispie ordered Law to tape his right thumb against his hand in practice and try shooting without it. Law was unable to make the shots, and Gillispie quickly decided not to intervene further.