Watch me jinx Shaq

[Andrew]

Don't look now, but Shaq is shooting 12/12 from the free throw line in his last two games, which has also given him a streak of 12 consecutive free throws made. For the first time in six seasons, he's shooting better from the free throw line (62% to 59%). He's had quite a few games shooting a respectable percentage from the free throw line (by his standards) including four games shooting 100% including the game against the Clippers today. On the whole, he's posting pretty good numbers on the season, his best in a couple of years. He's not going to overtake Yao in the voting but I'd like to see him selected as a reserve for the West.

[Doobie]

He deserves it Drew. He is putting up near double double numbers and is playing really well and energized this year. And he's hardly missed any games which is always a good thing. I say he does get in as a reserve.

[mvpshaq32]

Shaq, Kobe, and Phil reunited....
It's going to be a good ASG weekend.

[Valor]

maybe this year Shaq could get the MIP award?

[Andrew]

Surely the previous standard he set would rule him out. If they had a Comeback Player of the Year then he'd have to be a candidate.

[Valor]

meh, if he keeps the perfect Free Throw up...they might just give him the MIP for his FTs...seems like he "switched back to his High School FT form.."

[Andrew]

That won't happen though, because it's been mentioned and talked about now. We should probably expect his percentage to plummet into the 40s.

[Jackal]

Damn you, Andrew.

To the person that said he should win MIP, why are you so stupid? Why?

[Valor]

Damn you, Andrew.

To the person that said he should win MIP, why are you so stupid? Why?

oh comon Jackal..i was kidding

[Jackal]

oh comon Jackal..i was kidding

meh, if he keeps the perfect Free Throw up...they might just give him the MIP for his FTs...

[hova-]

I actually just noticed the same thing. Shaq hitting his freethrows more frequently is a nice development, but maybe its just for a decent long stretch and then he will fall back to his slumps.

Its really something many bigs (especially those from the US) have to learn .. shooting freethrows. Not only that these are the easiest points to score, but many US players are freaking athletes and can draw fouls like hell. You see that European guys ( ) are just better free throw shooters.
I hope Dwight Howard for example will be able to step up from the charity stripe because he is averaging almost 11 free throws per game and hits a miserable .59%. So its easy to foul him when hes next to the basket (you need to foul him hard for sure) and just send him to the line.

Im still waiting for a player to use Rick Barry's free throw technique :

phpBB [video]

btw .. still loving this guy:

phpBB [video]

[sucram]

Good lord that is ugly.

btw 'drew, i'm sure when shaq attempts and misses his next FT, you're not all to blame. I can't see him knocking down unlucky number 13.

[Alejandrov011]

I'm sure, if I try to shoot those free throws, I can't do it as he does.

It's impossible

[Andrew]

Good lord that is ugly.

btw 'drew, i'm sure when shaq attempts and misses his next FT, you're not all to blame. I can't see him knocking down unlucky number 13.

Yeah he's got a fair few cosmic forces going against his next attempt. I might have misheard but I believe they mentioned a 13/13 game he once had during the Mavs/Suns game last week, I'd love to see him beat that.

[Oskar]

I love the nickname he gave to himself - Shaqovic.

[Alejandrov011]

You jinxed him, Phoenix won but he shoot 6-11

Stupid Andrew






just joking

[Patr1ck]

Love how ESPN brought in Tim Legler who analyzed why he is making the freethrows. It's like if Shaq shot 80% freethrows it would be the most amazing thing ever.

[Andrew]

He missed his first attempt too so the streak was over at 12. Still a fine game though, 26 and 10.

[NovU]

Haha. what a funny little streak. However it's great to see him playing well again, at least in this one. If he can get to anywhere near his old-self then Phoenix sure will be the team to watch in the playoffs.

[Andrew]

I have to admit, I thought age and injuries had robbed him of his agility to the point where he wouldn't be able to put up numbers like this again, in addition to his reduced role on the Suns compared to back in the day when he was the player that his teams were built around. He does seem re-energised though and probably healthier than he's been the last couple of seasons.

[hova-]

Another perfect game from the line, though it were only 4 attempts.

[Andrew]

Still a noteworthy effort for Shaq.