Nothing Free About Them for the Nets’ Dudley : Pro basketball: He makes one of 18 foul shots, missing last 13 in a row.

Chris Dudley should have watched the halftime show during New Jersey’s game with Indiana on Saturday.

A fan was blindfolded, spun around three times, and stationed at the foul line. He made one of seven free throws.

Dudley, the NBA’s worst foul shooter, was one for 18 in the Nets’ 124-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers Saturday night.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever done,” Dudley said after one of the worst free-throw performances in the NBA’s 54-year history. “I was just thinking about too many things. I’ve been working on a lot of things and I’m not confident yet.”

The worst performance is zero for 10 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1960.

Concentration is among the theories put forth to explain Dudley’s horrific free-throw shooting. But Dudley is the only Ivy Leaguer in the NBA, having been drafted in 1987 from Yale by Cleveland.

“I’d shoot one and it would come up short,” said Dudley, whose free-throw percentage dropped from 37.8% to 34.2% (55 of 161). “The next time I’d think about it and it would hit off the back of the rim.”

Dudley missed his last 13 attempts, one an airball that brushed the bottom of the net, and four bricks that left the backboard shaking.

Before one free throw, referee Dick Bavetta handed the ball to the 6-foot-11 center and offered words of encouragement.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know they were going to foul me every time I got my hands on the ball down the stretch,” said Dudley, who had nine points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

Chris Morris, a 71% free-throw shooter for the Nets, was clasping his hands as if to pray for his teammate. At another point, teammate Purvis Short tried to sneak to the foul line after Dudley was fouled, but Bavetta caught him.

Coach Bill Fitch, using Dudley to replace injured Sam Bowie, tempered his feelings. He talked about Dudley’s defense against 7-4 Rik Smits, who had 14 points.

“I stuck with Chris because he was the only guy playing defense,” Fitch said. “He kept Smits in check all game. No one else would have gotten to shoot that many free throws. That’s the way I look at it.”