It might be the most mundane, least thrilling scene in a basketball game: Nine players stand in place, watching a 10th player stationed 15 feet from the rim, trying to make a foul shot. After all, since you began following the NBA, how many times have you turned on SportsCenter and seen a free throw featured among the highlights?
While foul shots aren’t going to thrill many fans or star in the nightly top 10 plays, their value is often inescapable, but perhaps never more clear than when a team does not consistently make them. Unfortunately for the 2020-21 New Orleans Pelicans, that harsh reality was commonly reinforced, as well as a major factor in them not reaching the Western Conference postseason.