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"There is some precision to being able to miss" - Ray Allen on whether he practiced missing free throws
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- "There is some precision to being able to miss" - Ray Allen on whether he practiced missing free throws
Ray Allen made difficult shots look routine. The Hall of Famer built his reputation on one of the smoothest shooting strokes in NBA history. However, his understanding of shooting went beyond just putting the ball through the net.
That became clear when Allen was once asked whether he had ever practiced intentionally missing free throws, which players occasionally need to do when a team is trailing late and wants the next possession.
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According to Allen, intentionally missing free throws is an overlooked aspect of the game for obvious reasons. Yet there is more to it than most people realize.
"It sounds funny, but you know how to miss, and it's just kind of being off, and obviously, you're looking to who your best rebounder is on what side. So, yeah, there is some precision to being able to miss a free throw," Allen said on The Dan Patrick Show last year. "I can't say that I practiced it, but I definitely know how to aim up there and get it to bounce on one side or the other."
Allen rarely missed on the charity stripe
Of course, it was never a question about whether Allen could make his free throws or not.
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Over his 18-year NBA career, he shot an impressive 89.4 percent from the charity stripe, converting 4,398 of his 4,919 free throw attempts. Allen's best free-throw shooting season came in the 2008-09 campaign, when he made an extraordinary 95.2 percent of his attempts as a member of the Boston Celtics .
That mark remains one of the best single-season free-throw percentages in NBA history. Moreover, Allen shot at least 90 percent from the free-throw line in several seasons.
According to Allen, that remarkable consistency was not luck. It's the result of practice and commitment.
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"I did [practice on my free throws]. I was pretty good at it," the two-time NBA champion pointed out.
Free throws are more mental than they look
In free-throw shooting, the difficult part, as Allen explained, isn't necessarily the mechanics. It's recreating the emotions that come with taking the shot when everything is at stake.
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"People don't understand how emotional a free throw is… And emotions don't always mean anger, but your adrenaline is pumping," he explained.
"You just got knocked on your butt, you're either down two, or you're up two, you just dunked on somebody, all these emotions are inside of you. And for most players, imagine a situation in practice where you practice those emotions. It's hard to practice feeling competitive, to practice feeling angry, to practice feeling anxious, practice feeling desperate," he added.
Allen concluded that it's exactly the reason why even some of the most skilled players still miss free throws.
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"How do you do that in the gym by yourself?" he stressed. "And so, you have to figure out a way when you practice to take that quiet gym and make yourself tired, make yourself mad, make yourself excited because that feeling, you have to get used to in a game. A lot of times, when they get into a game situation, it's a foreign situation for them when they go to that free throw line."
Allen's insights prove that free throws only look easy from the outside. The distance never changes, the rim doesn't move, and nobody is guarding the shooter.
Yet every free throw attempt requires a lot of practice, emotion and focus — regardless of whether you want to make or miss it.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Aug 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
