Despite 50 points from Damian Lillard, the Toronto Raptors held off the Portland Trail Blazers to win 117-115 on Friday. Toronto was led by DeMar DeRozan, who scored 38 points and came just short of setting an NBA record.
DeRozan made his first 24 free throws before missing on his 25th attempt with less than a second left in the game. If DeRozan had made his 25th free throw and remained perfect at the line, he would've broken Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins' record for most made free throws without a miss. The former Atlanta Hawks forward set the record in 1992 by going 23-for-23 from the line, so if DeRozan made his final free throw, he would've been breaking a record that stood for over 20 years.
DeRozan missing on his 25th free throw did look purposeful though as he perfectly hit the front of the rim. Afterward, DeRozan told reporters, via CBS Sports' James Herbert, that he actually did miss the free throw on purpose and he had no idea that he was that close to making NBA history.
So why did he miss it? Well, Kyle Lowry told him to, so the game would end.
To Lowry's credit, he also didn't know about DeRozan being so close to the record. But that didn't stop DeRozan from joking with Lowry about the miss after they both found out about the possible record.
"Thanks Kyle, I could've had the NBA record," DeRozan joked with Lowry, via CBS Sports' James Herbert.
While DeRozan didn't break Wilkins' record, he did set a Raptors record for the most free throws made in a game, owns the NBA season high for free throws made in a game and set the NBA record for most consecutive free throws made in one game. All things considered, that's not a terrible consolation prize.
