Chima Moneke: I saw what they were calling for Mathias Lessort in the ABA League, that’s not something that happens in the EuroLeague and NBA
0![Chima Moneke: I saw what they were calling for Mathias Lessort in the ABA League, that’s not something that happens in the EuroLeague and NBA Chima Moneke](https://basketballsphere.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Chima-Moneke.jpg)
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Chima Moneke, in an interview for BasketNews, commented on deliberately missing a free throw against Crvena Zvezda.
The Baskonia basketball player revealed how Vanja Marinkovic and Dusko Ivanovic told him to intentionally miss the second free throw.
“I hadn’t played for 15 minutes before that. I was cold and frustrated. I grabbed that rebound, and on the way to the free-throw line, I was thinking about how I had the opportunity to beat Crvena Zvezda in the same way I had beaten Partizan,” said Chima Moneke.
He added, “After making the first free throw, Vanja Marinkovic approached me and told me to miss the second, which Dusko Ivanovic confirmed. I was only thinking about how to miss it and leave Crvena Zvezda with no chance to win.”
One of the Crvena Zvezda players, however, had a premonition of what Chima Moneke might do.
“At that moment, Luka Mitrovic shouts that I will miss the free throw according to the plan and how the ball will come back to me (warning his teammates). I did it perfectly, even though I had never practiced it before, as was evident the next day in practice when I couldn’t miss a free throw so successfully again. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized how difficult it is to do something like that.”
The Australian also touched upon a similar situation with Mathias Lessort being called a mistake in the ABA League finals, contrasting it with games in the EuroLeague and NBA.
“I saw what they called for Mathias Lessort, but in my opinion, that’s an ABA League thing. It certainly isn’t the case in the EuroLeague and NBA, nor have I ever heard of such a thing before.”