The final day of the 2023-24 regular season saw several playoff teams battling for seeding, other teams trying to improve draft odds and a few simply hoping to end the campaign on a high note.
The Houston Rockets, who had launched an unsuccessful late attack on the Play-In Tournament, fell into the latter category, seeking their first undefeated record since the 2019-20 season.
As it turned out on Sunday, Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers fans both had a victory.
With 4 minutes and 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Houston’s 116-105 victory over the Clippers, center Boban Marjanović missed his first free throw. Marjanović – a career 76.4 percent free throw shooter – then deliberately missed the second to earn fans in attendance some free chicken.
The Clippers organization is running a promotion in which fans in attendance receive free chicken if the opposition misses two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter. Thus, the Clippers faithful, who had seen their replacements fight admirably throughout the match, finally had something to celebrate, triggering the rising crescendo.
Boban.
Man of the people. pic.twitter.com/PRq6xIXxIW
-NBA (@NBA) April 15, 2024
Rewarding home fans when two consecutive fourth-quarter free throws are missed has gained popularity in recent years. In some blowouts, when the players at the end of the bench finally speak, some players miss the first free throw, angering the crowd, only to make the second and make fun of them.
But if there was anyone in the NBA who would deliberately miss out to ensure fans went home with a reward, it would be Marjanović, who is arguably the nicest professional basketball player on the planet.
A finalist for the NBA Sportsmanship Award this season, the former Clippers fan favorite has made a career out of making kind gestures during his various stops in the league.
As soon as the second free throw went off the rim, Marjanović raised a finger in the air, reminding attendees who to thank for the free Chick-fil-A.
You can buy tickets for every NBA game here.
(Photo: Adam Pantozzi/Getty Images)