Jan Vesely is 1-for-9 on free throws this season. Jordan Crawford obviously knows this, so when Vesely got fouled by Tyrus Thomas during last night’s game against Charlotte, Crawford tried to pull a fast one.
As both teams set up for the shots, Crawford slid in front of Vesely at the line. Vesely, either confused or just being a very good accomplice, lined up along the paint as if this was all totally normal. Nothing to see here, folks. Crawford was able to take — and make –one shot before one of the Charlotte coaches wised up, and the refs returned the ball to its rightful shooter.
Vesely went on to miss both of his shots.
“Nothing against Jan. I was just trying to get as many points as we can because we was struggling to score,” Crawford told Michael Lee, after admitting that we was joking around with the Bobcats bench about the ruse. “I was just saying, ‘I thought I got bumped on the play,’ making a little joke.”
A decent excuse, except that at the time of the whistle he was all by his lonesome outside the three-point line.
Via TruthAboutIt, we have video evidence of the incident. Crawford was so smooth he fooled everyone, including broadcasters Phil Chenier and Steve Buckhantz, who went on with business as usual while the shenanigans were happening. Unless they were in on it too. Conspiracies tend to run deep.