Price Misses Free-Throw Record by One

Seventy-seven down and one to go.

That’s all Cleveland Cavalier guard Mark Price needed to make it into the NBA record book from the free-throw line.

But it proved to be one too many.

Playing against the Hornets in Charlotte Friday night, Price made six consecutive free throws to give him 77 in a row, one short of Calvin Murphy’s 12-year-old NBA record.

No. 77, the first on a two-shot foul, swished through the net.

His bid for No. 78 bounced off the back rim.

“The first free throw felt worse coming off my hands than the second one did,” Price, the NBA’s leading free-throw shooter at 95%, said after the Hornets’ 114-113 victory. “Everyone in the building knew that was the one for the tie.

“Those things happen. I will just start a new streak tomorrow.”