Earlier, we talked about the ongoing Jontay Porter betting investigation, so let’s cleanse our palettes and talk about a positive NBA story. Boban Marjanović, who stands 7 feet, 4 inches tall, is a treasure of a human being. From Serbia, Marjanović has been in the NBA since 2015 and while he has been a limited-action role player most of his career, he has been a beloved teammate wherever he has gone.
Boban’s giant size combined with his goofy, friendly personality has even allowed him to develop a small acting career. He has been the star of funny commercials for Goldfish and State Farm, appeared in Adam Sandler’s film Hustle, and has portrayed an assassin twice: in John Wick: Chapter 3 and Self Reliance.
He is a fan favorite, possibly never more so than on Sunday, April 14, the final day of the 2023-2024 regular season. His team, the Houston Rockets, were out of playoff contention, and their opponent, the L.A. Clippers, were locked into their playoff seed no matter the results, so the game was meaningless for the season standings.
Many teams in both the NBA and college run a promotion in which the fans at the game win some sort of free food if a player on the visiting team misses two consecutive free throws. My school, the University of Virginia, gives students free bacon. It’s fun for all involved – some kids even wear bacon costumes to the game.
The Clippers do it as well, giving away free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches to everyone if a visiting player misses two free throws in a row in the fourth quarter.
So there was Boban Marjanović, at the line to shoot two with under five minutes remaining in the contest. He missed the first and the crowd got excited, dreaming of wonderful, free chicken sandwiches.
And Boban, who once played for the Clips, knew it. After he missed the first, he backed off the charity stripe and looked around at the crowd, nodding and pointing to himself. I’m no lip reader, but it looked like he said something like, “I got you,” and “This is from me.”
He pointed at himself a couple more times, acknowledged the fans, and proceeded to intentionally clank the next free throw off the rim. The crowd erupted and Boban retreated back on defense, arm raised triumphantly, as if he had just clinched a huge victory.
And you know what? He did clinch a huge victory. He won the fans over $100,000 worth of Chick-Fil-A, treated all of us to a fantastically fun highlight, and added to his legend, as the announcer would say, “a man of the people.”
Some bettors might have been hit with a loss because of Boban’s heroics, though. The over/under for total points in the game closed at 222.5, but earlier that day and in the days leading up to the game, it was possible to get it at 221 or 222. Well, the total ended up being 221, so Boban’s miss might have cost some “over” bettors, though it also might have made some “under” bettors very happy.
Image credit: Flickr.com / young shanahan