That’s how I see it, livin here in the Oh Kay See.
Sure, maybe some calls hurt them. But, even with those calls, they still could’ve won if they simply made the ball go thru the hoop in those last minutes/seconds instead of bouncing off of it. And where was the rebounding for those missed shots?
Except for that really messed up non called foul for them plus called foul against them turnaround on that one play. You know the one!
That makes it sound almost innoccuous, until you realize that’s more then 33% more.
Oh, and what was the average margin of victory over the series? (Hint: less than 5 points)
I didn’t watch, but agree that’s what happens. I don’t believe Stern would ever point-blank tell an official “Favor the Heat”. But it’s quite believable that the league would, say, tell officials (ever so neutrally) to be sure and call offensive fouls in setting picks, when the most important player on the Heat’s opponent has a minor reputation for setting hard picks. And of course the league doesn’t even try and hide that it has a ‘give superstars the benefit of the doubt in any situation’ policy.
This line of thinking drives me crazy. I mean, sure, if OKC had shot 80% from the floor for the series, they could, in fact almost certainly would, have won. But so what? That counterfactual doesn’t address whether OKC did in fact play well enough to win.
The point is – if, for the sake of argument, you accept that unbiased officiating would have given equal amounts of free throws for each team – then OKC DID in fact play well enough to win: Miami won by an average of 4 points and got an extra 7 free throws a game; so since Miami didn’t shoot 50% from the line, the winning margin was provided by free throws. How is scoring more points than your opponent --once officiating is equalized – NOT playing well enough to win?
It’s like some strange Stockholm Syndrome with basketball fans and the NBA – ‘Sure, we know you abuse us and our sense of fairness, but let me bend over backwards to make excuses for how it doesn’t matter. I’m sure it was my fault anyway.’ I mean, sure, of course players, coaches, and ESPN and other major media have to say that or they will indeed face retaliation from the guys who write their paychecks, but I don’t get why fans do it.
The disparity in free throws is in line with the two teams’ performance over the course of the season. That doesn’t mean every foul call or non-call was right, but it suggests the disparity was about would’ve been expected and the calls pretty much evened out over the course of the series.
Also OKC had problems at the line when they were supposed to be the better free throw shooting team.
Congratulations to Lebron on a VERY well-deserved championship ring and Finals MVP. Led his team in points, rebounds and assists. First player ever to get over 650 points, 200 rebounds & 100 assists in the playoffs. Triple Double in the clincher.
When you’re winning a game at the end, you shoot free throws. When you’re winning a game at the end by enough that two points hurts you less than stopping the clock will, you also stop fouling.
More to the point, when you’ve got the best player in the world playing 44 minutes a game attacking the paint over and over, and taking 22 shots a game, and he also weighs 300 pounds, you aren’t benefiting from a secret foul shot conspiracy when he averages 9 free throw attempts a game. If LeBron took 30 free throws per game in the finals, I would have said well, that’s a lot, but I understand.
That says it all right there, doesn’t it?