HOUSTON — Nobody could have predicted that the intentionally missed free throw would be all the rage in the final days of 2022.
In two of the three games to end the calendar year, Luka Dončić had to utilize the intentional miss – once to try to win the game and once to try to keep the other team from getting a chance to tie or win.
“I don’t think he’s practiced those,” Kidd said pregame.
Could have fooled us.
The missed free throw has been around forever. But it just doesn’t work very often. That said, it has been executed perfectly by Luka twice. First, it led to Luka’s bucket that forced overtime against New York. Then he missed and got his own rebound against San Antonio on Saturday to keep the Spurs from having any last-gasp heroics.
“We talked about it before he shot the two at San Antonio,” Kidd said. “I just asked him could he miss the second one . . . so that we don’t give them time to set up a play. All the thoughts of fouling someone again went through my head.
“He did it incredible . . . I think he’s the only one who could pull it off where the ball comes right back to him.”
And, by the way, who knew that the missed free throw would become such a weapon?
“Popular,” Kidd said. “It’s very popular in this league. Not just in our game, but there are other games where it’s taking place. We dodged a bullet (at San Antonio). So we got lucky.”
And while Luka doesn’t typically practice trying to miss shots, Kidd said there’s a great marketing opportunity out there for some company that wants to showcase the crazy shots that Luka tries and, periodically, makes.
“He’s up for all those trick shots,” Kidd said. “I was joking with someone that he (should be in) one of those fast-food commercials when they had Michael (Jordan) and Larry Bird doing trick shots. I think there’s a couple guys in the league that he could do that with.”
Doubling up: For the second week in a row, Luka Dončić was named the Western Conference player of the week.
It’ll be a surprise if he’s not named December’s player of the month, which likely will be announced Tuesday.
The NBA announced the weekly award Monday, marking the ninth time in his career that he has received the honor. It is the first time in his career that he has garnered the award in back-to-back weeks and he becomes the first player to earn consecutive Player of the Week awards this season.
The 6-7 point guard led the Mavericks to a 3-0 week with averages of 48.7 points (.617 FG%, .480 3FG%), 13.0 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks in 39.7 minutes per game.
Hard times in Houston: The Rockets have been in rebuild mode ever since the departure of James Harden and it’s taking its toll.
Recently, veteran guard Eric Gordon said that he has not seen tangible improvement this season, which is wearing on him.
He’s not alone.
“Rebuilding is hard,” coach Stephen Silas said. “It’s hard on everybody, hard on fans, hard on coaches, hard on players. And he was frustrated. I don’t necessarily agree with how he went about it. But I do understand his frustration. We’re all frustrated.
“Everybody wants this rebuild to go faster. It’s not an easy thing we’re going through. But Eric and I had a good conversation and we’re good. It’s not going to be an easy, steady-growth thing. It’s just not realistic.”
Silas impressed by Wood: Few people know Christian Wood and Dončić better than Silas. The former Mavericks’ assistant coach and Rockets head coach of the past three seasons has worked with both players and he sees big improvement in Wood as his first Mavericks season has progressed.
“I’m proud of him the way he’s playing,” Silas said. “His pick-and-pops are really, really hard to guard. I think he’s shooting 48, 49 percent on pick-and-pops, which is difficult when the person passing to him is scoring 50 every night. He’s definitely finding his rhythm.”
Which wasn’t necessarily the case earlier in the season.
“He’s getting better as the season goes along,” Silas said. “We saw them early and it seemed like he was a little out of sorts. But over the last little while, he’s been very good for them. And Luka has a way of making the players around him better.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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