Shaquille O’Neal was the personification of dominance during his prime, seemingly no one could even slow Shaq down when he was going at it. There was just one way that teams could do anything about O’Neal’s offense, and that was to foul him and send him to the free-throw line. Thankfully for them, that’s the one area where Shaq struggled majorly, making just over 50% of his free throws throughout his career.
This meant he held a very dubious record, which is that of missing the most consecutive free throws to start a playoff game. But all records must be broken, and Brooklyn Nets’ man Nic Claxton became the person to break this one in Game 4 against the Boston Celtics, where he missed a whopping 10 free throws to start the game.
Considering that the Nets eventually lost by 4 points, Claxton will feel like there was something he could have done to ensure his team at least won a game and was able to go out on a better note than being swept. The Nets stars will take the lion’s share of the blame for this exit, but Claxton’s performance from the line was a serious factor, and he even managed to amaze the man whose record he broke.
Wow
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 26, 2022
Claxton eventually sank his 11th attempt of the game, a point at which he earned cheers from the entire Barclays Arena. It’s quite rare to see such consecutive missed free throws at the NBA level, but the pressure of the playoffs compounding an existing flaw in a player’s game can lead to this, and it has also happened to the very best.
Shaquille O’Neal is always about taking things in good humor and then working to be the best though, so that’s what Claxton should be looking to get out of this. The 23-year-old has impressed the Nets and has everything it takes to become an important piece for what should be an excellent team again next season.
