Blogger's Note: I made this blog for the NBA Philippines website on August 5, 2012
You know that thing when your favorite basketball player is about to take a free throw and the announcers point out that the player is a blank percent free throw shooter or he has not yet missed from the free throw area?
Yeah, I know.
Here's Stephen Curry calling out Kevin Harlan.
I know for a fact that press people dictate much of the luck in the NBA, PBA, and a bunch of sporting competitions all over the world. For announcers, they just couldn’t help it because having a lull moment of airtime means they aren’t doing their jobs. I know an incident when Reggie Miller remembered the jinx in the middle of a player’s free throw routine and he was snickering when he missed. Miller is one of thousands of NBA announcers in its history to piss off a player’s free throw percentage by saying how good it is.
Even Reggie Miller is a victim of this travesty.
So is this some kind of basketball abnormality?
First of all, I doubt if the players have earphones plugged into the announcer's booth when they are about to take a free throw. Also, I don’t think some players are doing the math in their heads while attempting a free throw. But then again, maybe THAT will mess up their chance in the charity stripe.
The Top Ten NBA All-Time Free Throw Percentage leaders are as follows (from first to tenth): 2-time MVP Steve Nash, Cleveland Cavs’ free throw robot Mark Price (Price and Nash are tied for first as of this moment), Brent Barry’s Hall of Fame daddy Rick Barry, ex-Sacramento Serb Peja Stojakovic, former Celtic and current Heat Ray Allen, Mr. Big Shot Chauncey Billups (Allen and Billups are tied for fifth), former Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy, Shaquille O’Neal’s first NBA point guard Scott Skiles, and Hall of Fame sharpshooters Reggie Miller and Larry Bird.
There was a point in their history where they unsuccessfully fumbled a free throw after the jinx.
Holding a notorious distinction of playing just 35 games in four seasons with the squad, Minnesota’s Michael Williams holds the record for consecutive free throws with 97 conversions.
Who knows how many announcers have tried to jinx him in the process of earning that 97 free throw streak?
And even the great Michael Jordan succumbed to this travesty in a random crunch-time moment.
I guess this is why I tried hard to not write about my favorite teams while they are still in contention because deep inside, I believe the jinx or curse or bad luck after a string of good praises will haunt the player eventually. The jinx – whether it’s a free throw jinx, a winning streak jinx, or a winning moment trumped by another winning moment – will continue to be one of the strangest things in basketball.
I’m going to end this topic with some sort of awesome drinking game. All you need to do is gather your friends and bet on a particular Team USA player. Draft him a fantasy game or whatever. All you need to do is rank the player or your makeshift team. The player or team that fares worse will do whatever punishment you can draw. The nice thing about Team USA now is that there are times Kevin Durant will lead in scoring and then Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony, or Russell Westbrook will follow suit.
Game over!