Goat of the Day (not G.O.A.T.) - brought to you by the number 1 (as in 1 free throw)

(Maybe Dwight needs to meet my man Count Von Count)

They say all of the fun is in the chase, but it's always nice when things fall into your lap. It's the Zen way really; to get what you desire is by not attaching yourself, but rather detaching yourself from the desired object. Connecting this with the current Larry O'Brien quest, is it a coincidence that Phil Jackson is a proponent of Zen teachings and why the Magic have decided to consistently gift wrap every crucial game moment to the Lake show in this NBA finals? From horrible free throw performances to turnovers that shouldn't happen with such regularity, the Magic are not giving the Lakers anything to sweat about except their cheerleaders (for another "NBA FINAL" check this SFW link). There are too many goats to be called out from the Magic's roster, but Courtney Lee, the Magic's uber rookie, is definitely not one of them. Ever since his potentially series-turning missed buzzer beater layup in game 2, unoriginal journalists have come out of the woodworks (and seeming unemployment) with their cries of Nick Anderson 2.0. Thank God/MJ23 this has ceased now. I was originally going to rant about how WRONG all of these supposed basketball experts are, but since the heat is off Lee at the moment (thank you Magic ineptitude!) I've decided to shift to the real Nick Anderson of this series: Dwight Howard.

Yes, Dwight - or Clark Kent of free throws - the star of O-town, had two, count them two, opportunities to make this a series in the dying moments of regulation of game 4; instead he goes and makes my boy Ponyman look like Mark Price from the charity stripe by sh*tting two bricks like it's the first minute of the game. You don't miss free throws. You don't miss two free throws in a row. You don't miss two free throws in a row, one of them which could essentially 99.9% cooler your opponents chances of making a comeback with less than 10 secs to go in an NBA finals game! Say what you want about the mob, ahem, refs, Coach Ron Jeremy's questionable coaching calls not to foul and benching Skip for fourth Q or Jameer Nelson's rookie mistake of giving Grampa Fisher an uncontested three instead of the drive (don't NBA players study game tape? or even SportsCenter top 10? when have you ever seen Fish break anyone's ankles? although, if you're curious check this), Dwight has to make ONE of those free throws. As far as I know, you usually don't try to put your own team in a tougher position when you have easy opportunities to do the exact opposite. Not to take anything away from Old Man Fisher, those threes were straight up Robert Horry (or vintage D-Fish???), but as one commentator put it on Slam Online, we will remember those threes as coaching blunders and not individual accolades. Never have I seen so many historical and what-if mistakes by one team.

Dwight Howard, congratulations, you're my first official goat (not G.O.A.T.) of the day:



("Hey ref, is it ok if I shoot free throws like this?")