Capela sinks first three

Clint Capela made the first three-pointer of his National Basketball Association career on April 12, ending an 11-season wait in his 739th regular-season game. (espn.com) The shot came early in the fourth quarter of Houston’s 132-101 win over Memphis in the regular-season finale at Toyota Center. ESPN’s recap said Capela had missed his first seven career attempts from three-point range, including one earlier Sunday night. (espn.com) Capela finished with a season-high 23 points and 13 rebounds as Houston closed at 52-30. The Associated Press said the Rockets rested Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr. and Steven Adams in the game. (apnews.com) Capela is a center, a position that usually works near the basket for screens, rebounds and dunks, not long jumpers from 23 feet, 9 inches. Basketball-Reference lists him at 6-foot-10 and 256 pounds, and his career page shows he entered Sunday 0-for-6 from three in the regular season. (basketball-reference.com) That made one made three stand out far beyond the box score. The National Basketball Association and ESPN both pushed clips of the shot on social platforms within hours, turning a late-game basket in a blowout into one of the night’s most shared moments. (tiktok.com) Capela’s career has otherwise been built on efficiency at the rim. ESPN’s stats page shows he has shot 61.2 percent from the field across 738 career games, with most of his offense coming on rolls, putbacks and finishes in the paint. (espn.com) The basket also landed in a full-circle season for Capela. He returned to Houston before the 2025-26 season after five years in Atlanta, rejoining the franchise that drafted him 25th overall in 2014. (sportsillustrated.com) Houston now heads into the playoffs, while Capela finally has a made three on a stat line that went more than a decade without one. After 739 games, the crowd got the kind of reaction usually reserved for a buzzer-beater. (espn.com)