Some things are bigger than the stat sheet.
Boban Marjanovic understood the assignment when he went up to the free-throw line midway through the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ season finale against the Clippers. He missed the first shot from the charity stripe with 4:44 to play in the contest. The fans roared to life.
That was when Marjanovic understood: if he missed one more free throw, the fans would get a free Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. Marjanovic looked around to the fans and pointed at himself as he prepared to fire in his second free throw. The shot bounced off the left side of the rim, and the celebration was on — including from Marjanovic.
Boban intentionally missing a free throw to give Clippers fans free chicken is the craziest thing I’ve seen all season 😂 pic.twitter.com/Ok9Z5JGdTA
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) April 15, 2024
MORE: View the 2024 NBA Playoff bracket
The Clippers and Chick-fil-A have a promotion that if an opposing player misses two consecutive free-throw attempts, fans can claim a free chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A.
These were far from meaningless shots — the Rockets led 105-97 with less than five minutes left in the game — but considering Los Angeles was sitting multiple starters awaiting its playoff appearance and that Houston was ending its season regardless, there was likely more fun to be had on both sides rather than stressing out as much over the results of the game.
That fun continued later in the fourth quarter when the 7-4 Marjanovic appeared to almost intentionally lose a tip-off with 6-foot guard Xavier Moon.
“OH MY GOODNESS!” 😂
Xavier Moon with a jump-ball win for the ages! pic.twitter.com/sACnXhahbq
— NBA (@NBA) April 14, 2024
Marjanovic is a 76.4 percent free-throw shooter for his career and a 72.7 percent shooter from the charity stripe this season. Based on his season average, he had only a 7.5 percent chance of missing both shots.
But on Sunday, Marjanovic wanted to make sure the fans had a 100 percent chance at getting free chicken off his missed free throws.
