MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics combined for two of the lowest free throw attempts ever on Tuesday night, making the Celtics the first team in NBA history to not hit a single free throw. It became.
With 19 seconds left in the first quarter of the Bucks' 104-91 win, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo made the only two free throws of the game, making one.
“Well, (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver is the happiest,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “The game time is 1 minute and 57 seconds. You can go watch the game and still have dinner. It's unbelievable.”
Rivers said he didn't realize there were so few free throws until after the game.
“I thought it was going to be a physical game and then they handed me the stat sheet and said, 'No, I need a full game,'” Rivers said. “I thought it was a halftime stat. I didn't look at the minutes. And I said, 'Wow, that's two free throws in a basketball game.' That's crazy. '”
The Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks shared the previous record of one free throw attempt per game. The Bucks committed just four fouls on Tuesday, the fewest in league history.
The two combined shots broke the previous record of 11, set on Nov. 10, 2019, when Indiana had five and Orlando had six.
“They're probably just getting ready for the playoffs. They're going to let a lot of things go, but I think they're just going to get ready for playoff basketball,” Boston's Jayson Tatum said.
It was especially surprising that this record was achieved in a game between the Bucks and Celtics. Antetokounmpo entered Tuesday leading the NBA in free throw attempts with 780 attempts. In this category, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard was seventh (494 points) and Tatum was eighth (488 points).
Lillard noted that foul calls seem to have decreased across the league in the second half of the season.
“It was weird, but it seems like it's a trend,” Lillard said. “Fouls are no longer part of the game. There have been times when I thought I was fouled and I was surprised that a foul wasn't called. When I bumped into someone or got a piece of someone's arm. It's like, maybe they could, but they didn't. Don't call it that. I thought, “Oh, they're really just letting us play.''
“Then, like the other night, I fouled out with like two minutes left in the game. I've fouled out twice in the last five games, or something like that. , didn't foul out. No matter how the game goes, you just have to respond. I barely remember the whistle tonight.”
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