After going undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2016, Alex Caruso spent the early part of his pro career doing everything he could to carve out a role for himself in the NBA.
Eventually, he became on the league’s most tenacious defenders. Now a two-time NBA All-Defensive Team honoree, Caruso has proven he’ll do whatever it takes on that end of the floor.
The 32-year-old guard took that sentence to another level on Tuesday, and it humorously cost him.
When Caruso’s left sneaker came off in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic, he picked it up and tried to use it to his advantage.
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Playing help defense in the paint, Caruso swiped the shoe at the left hand of Magic forward Tristan da Silva, who was going up for a layup.
Caruso made contact with the ball, and it came loose, ricocheting off da Silva’s arm and flying out of bounds.
Except, rather than resulting in an Orlando turnover, the play wound up with Caruso receiving a technical foul and the Magic being awarded the two points da Silva could have scored otherwise, plus the subsequent free throw due to Caruso being T’d up.
That sequence assisted Orlando’s comeback effort. The Magic pulled within one point of the Thunder by halftime. Then they pulled in front early in the third quarter.
This story is being updated.
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