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One of those classic chokes, of course, happened two days ago, with the Orlando Tragic gagging on 15 free throws in a pressure-packed Game 4 at home. Anytime I see an NBA team blow a game by missing that many free throws, I'm always reminded of what I consider to be the preeminent NBA playoff choke job of this decade. That, of course, was Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, which coincidentally featured the L.A. Lakers, and which even more coincidentally, featured Mr. Hedo Turkoglu.
In that awful 2002 finale, the Sacramento Kings, who two days earlier had been robbed by cheating referees in the famously rigged Game 6 in L.A., simply fell apart at the free throw line at home in Game 7. Incredibly, the Kings choked on almost half of their free throws that afternoon, their wobbly knees leading to 14 misses in only 30 attempts.
I bring this up because Turkoglu, who missed five free throws two nights ago, including three out of four huge ones in the 4th quarter, was playing for the Kings that day, and wouldn't you know it, a much younger Hedo couldn't knock them down that day, either. He attempted four free throws and went a sad 1-4. All those misses by Hedo and his high-flying teammates were just enough to let the Lakers get the game into overtime, where they overpowered the mentally fragile Kings (or the Queens, as they've been known ever since).
I would do anything for someone at ABC or ESPN to mention that Turkoglu is the common denominator in both of these famous overtime playoff games that were gift-wrapped for the Lakers. In my book, Hedo Turkoglu will forever be as big a playoff choker as his former Kings teammate, Peja Stojakovic.
And in case you're wondering, yes, of course I had the Kings -1.5 seven years ago, and yes, of course I had the Magic -1.5 two nights ago. If any team is going to fuck up an important playoff game against the Lakers, ya know I'm going to be there, betting ticket in one hand, no lube in the other.
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