No Kawhi Leonard.
No Paul George.
No James Harden.
No approach of serving to or hurting their playoff standing.
Already locked into the No. 4 seed within the Western Convention playoffs, the Clippers gave their stars the break day in the course of the regular-season finale in opposition to the Houston Rockets on Sunday at Crypto.com Area.
However a former Clipper gave the followers in L.A. one thing to cheer about within the fourth quarter — and that one thing was free sandwiches from Chick-fil-A.
The Rockets, who had already been eradicated from postseason rivalry, held an eight-point lead when well-liked heart Boban Marjanovic stepped to the road for a pair of free throws with 4 minutes 44 seconds remaining within the fourth quarter.
Marjanovic’s miss on his first try drew an unusually enthusiastic response from the group, and the 7-foot-4 participant appeared to know why. The Clippers and Chick-fil-A run a “Fowl Shot Promotion” during which followers on the enviornment obtain free hen sandwiches if an opposing participant misses back-to-back free throws within the fourth quarter.
Variety-hearted soul that he’s, Marjanovic smiled, nodded, pointed at himself a number of instances and appeared to mouth the phrases, “I acquired you” to the group — after which apparently tanked the second shot, a lot to the delight of hungry Clippers followers in attendance.
Marjanovic, who performed 56 video games for the Clippers between 2017-19, triumphantly pointed his index finger upward following the miss. In accordance with the Clippers, it was the seventh time this season the followers obtained free hen by means of the promotion with the fast-food firm that makes use of the “Eat Mor Chikin” slogan.
It might not have been the one play Marjanovic gave away for enjoyable. Lower than a minute later, he mysteriously misplaced a leap ball in opposition to 6-2 Clippers guard Xavier Moon, a lot to the amusement of the opposite Rockets gamers.
Marjanovic completed with 13 factors and eight rebounds for the Rockets, who received 116-105 to finish the season at 41-41, their first non-losing marketing campaign since 2019-20.
In the meantime, the Clippers enter their playoff collection in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks with rested starters (Leonard’s standing is unknown after he missed the final eight video games with knee points) and well-fed followers, making it a terrific day for all concerned.
