The NBA’s marathon of an 82-game regular season — though it pales in comparison to MLB’s drawn-out schedule — has finally concluded. The playoffs are here. Sadly, the Houston Rockets’ late-season run of 11 straight wins wasn’t enough to reach the play-in bracket out West. Since their fate was sealed a while ago, and since the Clippers had nothing to play for on Sunday night, there was room for some deliberate point shaving for attendees’ benefit.
Boban Marjanovic, who makes a basketball look like a small-ish cantaloupe, was at the free throw line and missed his first attempt. Apparently, Clippers fans get free chicken if an opposing player misses two straight shots from the foul line. Boban caught on to the promo, confirmed with the crowd before he shot his second, and proceeded to miss on purpose.
You gotta love the reaction here from the announcers, never mind how bananas the whole building went. Although he’s a mere single-digit-minute reserve in the NBA, Boban has a lot to look forward to off the court whenever he’s finished with the sport. His towering 7-foot-4 frame and charisma to burn has translated well to the small and silver screens, as he’s popped up in multiple film and TV projects such as the third John Wick movie, a comedy TV show in his native Serbia, and more.
It’s no surprise that he was inclined to play to the fans a bit. He used to play for the Clippers after all. Plus, Houston already had the game more or less in the bag, especially with LA sitting all its stars in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. I might criticize anyone else if it wasn’t Boban, but it’s Boban, and he can do no wrong.
The personal point of pride to make sure the Rockets avoided a losing record would’ve weighed on my conscience were I in this same situation. Plus, screw the Clippers, right? Who likes them?
No but seriously, good for the fans for getting some free food. Jim Harbaugh’s reservations about chickens being nervous birds aside, the fans were evidently thrilled for the no-cost grub. Anyone who pledges allegiance to this historic dumpster fire of a franchise deserves perks where they can be had. Have a bad feeling the Clips are in for another cruel twist of fate, because they’ll be lucky to get out of the first round of the playoffs against Boban’s pal Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
