Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan had a new career high of made free throws Monday night against the Portland Trailblazers, knocking down 12 from the charity stripe.
But as it goes with anything, with the good comes the bad.
Jordan, despite his career-high 12 free throws made, also missed 22 shots from the line, tying an NBA record.
DeAndre Jordan’s 22 missed FT’s tied a NBA record for most misses since 1963-64, tying him with Wilt Chamberlain
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) December 1, 2015
When the Clippers began to extend their lead, the Blazers did what any NBA team facing a big deficit does against the Clippers when Jordan is on the floor. (He’s averaged nearly nine foul shots per game this season.) They fouled him, and did it over and over again. You can watch every missed free throw from Monday night’s game, thanks to this video. It doesn’t run long and uses John Tesh’s snappy “NBA on NBC” theme music.
https://youtu.be/1ralEhcRPsE
While it isn’t fun for fans to watch (unless someone cuts those shots into a 90-second video), and really drags out the games, it’s just simple gamesmanship by the opposition. There were discussions last year about whether or not the NBA should adopt a rule to prevent teams from using the hack-a-player strategy, but it appears that won’t be happening any time soon.
The Clippers are just 18 games into the season, and if this is the precedent, we might see Jordan break his own record later this season.
Practice your free throws, kids.
