Tuesday night saw the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics making NBA history with a mere two free throw attempts combined, setting a record low. Notably, the Celtics marked a first by being the only team in NBA history to forgo a single free throw attempt.
In the Bucks’ 104-91 triumph, Giannis Antetokounmpo was the sole player to step up to the line, converting one of his two free throws.
After the game, Rivers admitted he hadn’t realized the scarcity of free throw attempts until afterward.
This unprecedented feat surpassed the previous record held jointly by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2014 and the Atlanta Hawks in 2018, who each managed just one attempted free throw in a single game. Remarkably, the Bucks’ defensive effort led to only four fouls committed, a league-low.
The astonishingly low total of two free throw attempts shattered the previous record of 11, established on Nov. 10, 2019, when the Indiana Pacers had five and the Orlando Magic had six.
The occurrence of this record-setting game between the Bucks and Celtics was particularly surprising given Antetokounmpo’s league-leading 780 free throw attempts prior to Tuesday’s matchup, with Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard (494) and Tatum (488) also ranking high in the category.
Marc Davis, Ben Taylor, and Danielle Scott comprised the officiating crew for Tuesday night’s game.
Lillard observed that foul calls across the league seemed to decrease as the season progressed.
“It was weird, but it seems to be the trend,” Lillard said. “Fouls are not a part of the game no more. It’s like, I’ve had times where I thought I was getting fouled, and there’s been other times where I was surprised a foul didn’t get called on me, where I might bump somebody or get a piece of somebody’s arm and they don’t call it, and I’m like, ‘Man, they’re really just letting us play.’
“And then, like the other night, I fouled out with like two minutes left in the game. I fouled out twice in our last five games or something like that. I hadn’t fouled out in I don’t know how long before this. You’ve just got to roll with however the game is going. Tonight, I hardly remember any whistles.”
