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Sports

Joakim Noah's Free Throw Misses Everything, Provides a Lesson in Physics

Joakim Noah's missed free throw was a scientific marvel.

New York Knicks center Joakim Noah is well-known for his—ahem—unique free-throw technique. It's not pretty, it's not even effective (Noah is shooting 41.7 percent from the charity stripe this season), but it is unique.

This astounding attempt during the first quarter of Monday's game against the Indiana Pacers may not have earned Noah a point, but it was perhaps the most effective demonstration of the Magnus Effect—the physical force affecting a ball spinning through the air—since this dude dropped a basketball off a damn dam:

The Knicks managed to win the game, 109-103. Noah didn't play much (12 minutes), score much (two points), or actually sink a free-throw (0-2), but he did provide a national TV audience with a valuable lesson in physics.