If you’re a basketball fan who has spent any time on Instagram, you’re probably aware of @LethalShooter. The account belongs to Chris Matthews, who has gained a following for two reasons: The work he does with NBA players and other celebrities to help them improve their jump shots, and the absolutely ridiculous shooting challenges he’ll occasionally do on his account. On the latter, a personal favorite was the time he shot on a rim with no backboard, no pole, and only one inch of error.
Matthews does this to show the importance of having good, consistent form when you shoot. His latest challenge took this to a new level, as he and his team built a mechanical rim called “The Windmill.” It featured three hoops on one spinning apparatus, with one rim having blue tape. Here’s how things went down:
It looks like something you’d see at a carnival, but also, I am 100 percent certain I would miss every single shot I attempted on this thing. The video ended up hitting the Twittersphere, and as a result, a bunch of folks got off jokes about an incident that happened earlier this season when LeBron James got poked in the eye by Draymond Green and claimed he saw three rims during the play-in game between the Lakers and Warriors.
https://twitter.com/Kofie/status/1413571660616138753
this is what the basket looked like to lebron when he got poked in the eye during the play-in tournament https://t.co/Lp5Xakbomw
— alex (@steven_lebron) July 9, 2021
this the 3 rims Bron saw? https://t.co/dToDdwQzjZ
— alexis (@alexisfromvegas) July 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/lakeshowmax/status/1413396647954968578
— Star Beretta 🧧 (@StarBeretta) July 9, 2021
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 9, 2021
"I saw 3 rims so I just shot at the middle one." pic.twitter.com/Xhcn3KGtSC
— Burtonious (@o_dburton) July 9, 2021
These weren’t the only people who were amazed by this … well, amazed might not be the right word, but plenty of people raised their eyebrows at this experiment.
I don’t understand why this works lol https://t.co/MeVhPx0I4k
— Autumn Childress (@achildresstv) July 9, 2021
This killing me https://t.co/0Nhel42JEe
— Trill Withers (@TylerIAm) July 9, 2021
personal trainers are always making up the absolute wildest shit https://t.co/P1b6dlENAL
— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston) July 9, 2021
Good to see trainers are preparing players for if they ever get kidnapped by the Joker and taken to an abandoned amusement park and have to hit these shots to prevent the bomb that's strapped to Commissioner Gordon's chest from detonating https://t.co/WSLn0Yl51T
— 🦦✨America Is Musty✨🦦 (@DragonflyJonez) July 9, 2021
wildwood boardwalk style basketball training https://t.co/vT0x17IZ85
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) July 9, 2021
what kind of state fair carnival game shit is this https://t.co/0hE3xEKZ4P
— manny (@mannyfidel) July 9, 2021
Of course, the stuff that Matthews works on with NBA players (at least based on his Instagram account) and the stuff he does in these videos are not the same — these stunts are things he pulls off, while the exercises he does with players are more, uh, practical. But regardless, I would like to see the NBA incorporate a spinning tri-hoop if that play-in tournament Adam Silver wants comes to fruition.
