If you, for whatever reason, were forced to watch Monday night’s Los Angeles Clippers-Portland Trail Blazers game, you have our sympathy.
The Blazers, losers of nine of their last 12 games, decided the recipe for success against the Clippers was to foul center DeAndre Jordan. And foul him again. And then foul him some more.
As a result, Jordan was sent to the free-throw line 34 times in the contest — more than the entire Portland roster combined. And since foul shooting is by far the most glaring flaw in the big man’s game, he came up empty on nearly two-thirds of those attempts.
All told, Jordan missed 22 of his 34 shots from the charity stripe, tying an NBA record set by Wilt Chamberlain way back in 1967-68, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Jordan’s historically bad night at the line had little impact on the scoreboard, however. The 27-year-old still posted a monster stat line (18 points, 24 rebounds, two blocks), and the Clippers coasted to a 102-87 win.
As for the Hack-A-DeAndre strategy, Jordan, who’s shooting 37.9 percent from the line this season, said it was more of a nuisance than anything else.
“That just means more practice,” he told reporters after the game, via The Associated Press. “It gets boring. And it makes me miss my reservations after the game. But other than that, it’s the same.”
H/t to Deadspin for the video
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
