They shot the following amount of FTs. 21- Rose (Opposing team shot 17 total) 14 James -8 - Wade -Bosh 11 (Opposing team shot 15 total) 13 - Nowitzki (all in 4th quarter, opposing team shot 13 total) Howard - 22 (opposing team shot 29, and won the game as it was a 30-29 comparison in FTA) I sometimes wonder why I even waste my time on the NBA. There is no way that David Stern is going to allow a small-market team without an 'NBA Superstar' get a fair shake over the duration of the playoffs. The disparities I just mentioned are laughable, other than the Atlanta game.
I think you also forget that players like Rose, James, Wade, etc play a style that allows them to get free throws. All of them attack the rim on a regular basis. They are going to get calls. Plus all of those games were close despite the ft disparity. I don't think everything is a conspiracy.
SA just shot 19 FT in the 3rd quarter and are at 33 for the game at the end of the 3rd. This is playoff basketball and I'm tired of the refs thinking it's their time to shine.
It's not a coincidence that all those players were playing at home. That's the biggest problem with the refs as I see it. The officiating is influenced by the crowd. Home teams get calls the away team doesn't. It's blatantly obvious, too.
Interesting post. Let's look at the actual stats of the 4 matchups from yesterday. Team (Yesterday's FTA/Regular Season FTA) Indiana (17/24.8) vs. Chicago (32/24.5) - Chicago shot less FT/game than Indy in the regular season Philly (15/22.6) vs. Miami (39/27.9) - Miami shoots 11 more FTA in the game than normal; Philly shoots 8 less Atlanta (29/21.1) vs. Orlando (30/25.6) - Refs must not have received the memo from Stern, as Atlanta surpassed their seasonal rate while being outscored inside Portland (13/22.4) vs. Dallas (29/22.6) - a fucking travesty considering Portland outscored Dallas 46-18 in the paint. Your claim doesn't stand up to reality, at least for the games I reference yesterday. Every home team with an MVP caliber player outpaced their seasonal average; all of the road teams, other than Atlanta, did not, yet Joe Johnson and Al Horford are All-Stars, while the other three teams don't have an All-Star. Basically, if you didn't have a two All-Stars as a road team yesterday, you were screwed. They were close because of the FT disparity. Portland would have won by 10 without the lopsided calls. Call it even, and Portland shoots 20 FTs in the 4th as well. I do.
Memphis (33/24.2) vs. San Antonio (47/24.2) - Memphis somehow wins late, despite leading most of the 2nd half while the Spurs kept marching to the FT line. Great job by the Grizz!
Detroit isn't a "small-market" team. Franchises in all 4 major sports isn't "small-market", IMO, and Detroit has a solid NBA history. Congrats, though, on finding one example in the last 30 years.
as the stats and eyeball test showed, it was Portland who attacked the rim throughout the game yesterday yet Dallas was the team rewarded with FTs especially down the stretch once they trailed. I don't think everything is a conspiracy either, but here your point rings completely hollow. 19-2 in the 4th favoring a team that almost exclusively shoots jumpers. You're just flat wrong STOMP
Some reporter added the FTs Miami and Chicago took compared to the FTs Philadelphia and Indiana took and tweeted it with the sentiment of "Welcome to today's NBA".
You'd think that market size wouldn't be of interest to Stern if he wanted to rig the league for profit reasons. Wouldn't the criteria be a city with the most disposable income, able to afford what the sponsors are selling and NBA gear? Like the SF Bay Area isn't all that big a population, but was really raking in the bucks when the 49ers were superbowl contenders.
