Lets take a look at numbers though. Celtics are tied for 23rd in the league in "Free Throws Attempted per a Game Differential" at -2. That means in the average game they take 2 less shots from the line then the opposition. It may not seem like a lot but that ends up being 164 less free throws attempted over a season. While you do have take into consideration the playing styles of a team and players like Durant or Dwight Howard will get you many trips to the line, there is no way Celtics should be this low. The top five teams in differential are Denver (Mello played there most of the season), Lakers, OKC, SA, and MIA. See a trend? Of all the teams who have differential of -1 or better 15 of them having winning records and 4 of them have losing. Of teams with differential of -1 or worse 9 have losing records and only the Celtics have a winning record. Whatever Paul Peirce did to the refs it is time they forgive him.
2 comments:
Man, this is the typical "woe is me/us against the world" mentality that I hear from Boston sports fans.
I got a few arguments.
-As you already know, Boston runs an offense based on ball movement, motion, and off the ball screens. These sets are designed to get a guy open for jumpers or lay ups/dunks. Hard to foul a guy when he's open.
-Boston is 21st in the NBA in terms of Pace. Since their pace is slower than the mean, their free throw attempts per game is slightly skewed.
-You bring up Dwight Howard but the officials treat him more egrigously than how you feel the officials treat the Celtics. He gets hacked and pushed they do not call it, what seems like, half the time.
Although I do agree with your first and last point (Howard playing under same rules Shaq did in his prime), I can't agree with the second one. We are looking at FT differential and not FT total, so pace of the game does not affect this.
Pierce has to get shot on the court to get a foul called for him.. Maybe his flopping has hurt reputation, but I still see Fisher, Ginobili, and CP3 getting every call.
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