Look at that thumbnail. Edmond Sumner knows he’s going to make that last free throw to win the game. He KNOWS it. That is the face of a man who has supreme confidence in his free-throw shoot ability. While Trae Young cowered and flinched at every slight movement, Sumner was a stone-faced assassin.
Major non-props to DeAndre’ Bembry for being so eager to stop Sumner from actually hitting the game-winning three that he bodychecked him. I mean, it’s Sumner. What are the chances he makes that kind of a shot, fading in the corner as the game clock expires? You have to be smarter than that. Fouling in that situation is the kind of thing that makes coaches question their decision to begin coaching in the first place.
I previously thought that the “replace Victor Oladipo with Edmond Sumner” experiment was sorta a failure. But now I may have to reconsider. Calmly sinking three free throws like that, that’s something Oladipo would do. 22 points in a 1-point victory over one of the best teams (at tanking) in the East, that’s another thing Oladipo would do. Big performances in the playoffs?????? Something Oladipo would do. We’ll have to wait and see with Sumner.