Joakim Noah Shot A Three Only So Fans Could Win Fast Food

Joakim Noah just doesn’t seem like the kind of player who would enjoy playing pickup basketball behind the scenes. Not because he’s not a basketball lover, but because he needs the energy of a crowd to draw from. He’s repaid the fans before by giving them what they want, if you remember his famous Final Four groove when he was a Gator. He tried to give back Tuesday night at home against Orlando, but it backfired, according to ESPN Chicago.

The offense was attempting a three that, had it gone in with .03 of a second left, would have broken 100 points for Chicago and thus given the fans free Big Macs through a 100-point promotion. Keep in mind it doesn’t take someone with the mind of Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau, who knows every player’s offensive tendency in the NBA, to know this was out of character. Noah has attempted just five three-pointers in his 334 career regular-season games, having made none. He’s attempted just 18 shots outside of 20 feet in his career, according to Basketball Reference. Even though it came harmlessly at literally the very last second, Thibodeau apparently voiced his displeasure with Noah already about the failed try. The best part is Noah’s admission that he got worked up about the shot knowing the fans were so close to getting free grub.

“I got caught up in the moment,” Noah admitted after the game.

Despite the fact the Bulls had won the game, many fans booed the team as the final buzzer sounded.

“I regret it a little bit,” Noah said. “It wasn’t a good shot.

“You have to respect the game because you never know what can happen in a game. I just got caught up in the moment and I was trying to get the people a Big Mac. They really wanted a Big Mac and I felt like, not only did I take the shot and miss the shot, we didn’t even get the Big Mac. Next time, I won’t take that 3-pointer.”

At the 3:35 mark in this postgame interview last night, you can hear him talk about the shot when a reporter asks about it. He drops a hint that it “wasn’t a good shot” right then.

You can’t blame him too much for taking a shot in the final second of a guaranteed win. To paraphrase the old, famous Wayne Gretzky quote, Noah knows you miss 100 percent of the Big Mac shots you don’t take.

What do you think?

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