The final day of the 2023-24 regular season saw several playoff teams competing for seeding, other teams trying to improve their draft lottery odds and some simply hoping to end the campaign on a high note.
The Houston Rockets, who had made a failed late push for the Play-In Tournament, fell into the latter category, seeking their first unbeaten record since the 2019-20 season.
As it turned out, Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers fans took home a victory on Sunday.
With 4 minutes and 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Houston’s eventual 116-105 victory over the Clippers, center Boban Marjanović missed his first free throw. Marjanović, a career 76.4 percent free throw shooter, then intentionally missed his second to earn the fans in attendance a free chicken.
The Clippers organization runs a promotion in which fans in attendance receive free chicken if the opponent misses two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter. So the Clippers faithful, who had watched their backups fight admirably all game, finally had something to cheer about, leading to a growing crescendo.
Boban.
Man of the people. 🍗 pic.twitter.com/PRq6xIXxIW
—NBA (@NBA) April 15, 2024
Rewarding home fans when they miss two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter has grown in popularity in recent years. In some fights, when the players at the end of the bench finally take the court, some players miss the first free throw, irritating the crowd, only to make the second and be mocked.
But if there was anyone in the NBA who would deliberately miss out to make sure fans came home with a reward, it would be Marjanović, who is arguably the most likable professional basketball player on the planet.
A finalist for this season’s NBA Sportsmanship Award, the former Clippers fan favorite has made a career of kind gestures in his various stops around the league.
As soon as the second free throw went off the rim, Marjanović raised a finger in the air, reminding those present who to thank for the free Chick-fil-A.
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(Photo: Adam Pantozzi/Getty Images)
