Dubs -6 favorite tonight..
Look at the ref crew… safe to say Lakers ain’t getting that generational whistle they got in game 1…
There is some truth to the idea that the NBA prefers to extend series and that the referees get direction from the league whether to call games tighter or more loosely for certain players. I know how some of us feel about Tim Donaghy, but he explicitly stated this is what happens, especially in playoff games.
Take a listen to this:
I have ABSOLUTELY zero reason to believe this man is lying about this. There is too much money involved in this sport for this type of thing to NOT be going on, and we, as the audience, see these types of things play out with our own eyes. That non-call on LeBron vs the Celtics was so egregious, the entire basketball community got up in arms about. The Kings/Lakers series from 2002 was also a blatant example, and I'm a Laker fan saying this.
The thing is though, the referees cannot control the style of the team, nor can they control if the ball goes in the hoop
(unless you on some
@xCivicx type of time, talking about how they put magnets in the [flat] ball or some shyt
)
The point is that in Game 1, the Warriors took 53 three point shots, out of a total of 106 shots. That is quite literally 50% of their attempts came at the 3 point line-- you're not getting many free throws when your attempts are mostly jumpshots.
On the converse, the Lakers took 25 threes, out of a total of 92 shots. That is 73% of their offense being mid-range or at the basket shots, which are the typical way to get to the line.
In the playoffs, teams average around 28 free throw attempts per game:
The Lakers took 29 free throws in Game 1...
Obviously, there is no conspiracy here. The Lakers had about average FTAs in the playoffs, whereas the Warriors were below average because literally half their attempts were from three.
I can do a deeper dive and explain why the Warriors, being a finesse team, don't get as many free throws as people think they should, but I'll leave you with this. The Warriors are simply below league average in foul shots BECAUSE THEY ARE A JUMPSHOOTING FINESSE TEAM.