Free Throws - Regular Season v. Playoffs.

I think we should use bbref’s per 100 numbers, since stars play more minutes in the playoffs.

Even then, Giannis per 100 jumped by 2.0
And Harden fell by 3.3

Plus, you can copy/paste actual formatted tables from bbref

 

In 17-18, Harden’s free throw rate went from 50% in the regular season to just 35%

last postseason his free throw rate was 37%...down from 44% in the regular season

meanwhile Steph Curry’s free throw rate went from 21 to 36%

Lebron’s free throw rate in 2018 went from 34 to 42%

KD’s free throw rate last year went from 36 to 47%

Kawhi’s free throw rate last year went from 35 to 44%

Giannis went from 55% to a ridiculous 64% free throw rate in last year’s playoffs, but it’s Harden who is so hard to watch and who slows the game down with endless trips to the line?

people keep saying the refs “let them play and call less fouls in the postseason”...no they don’t, unless your name is James Harden

 

The refs screwed us out of one championship, they will try again.

 

Check out the per100 of Jordan in the ‘90s, too
And Kobe’s three straight Finals 08-10

 

We shall overcome. It's the only way.

 

https://www.basketball-reference.com/

 

Lakers clippers will push Rockets role players to 30 feet, so 3 pointers are not good.

free throw attempts will be the key to win the west for rockets.

l’d use step front to get free throw attempts, not step back. Try to get 40 free throws a game.

 

Thanks for starting this thread. You always hear people say “you’re not going to get those calls in the playoffs!”

I actually have some work going back the last decade to see team free throws differential between regular season and playoffs. The truth is nearly every playoff team shoots more free throws during the playoffs.

I bet you can guess which team shoots less in playoffs... I think only 1 of the last 10 years we shot more free throws in playoffs.

I’m happy to post the data at some point this weekend if I remember. I’m headed to the horse tracks soon to drink 50 cent beers so it won’t be tonight.

 

i would also like to see playoff drives per game

 

A lot of fouls Harden gets are from defensive mistakes. No defender wants to put him on the line. It makes sense that in the playoffs defenses will play smarter and foul him less.

With Giannis, it’s different. You foul him to prevent an easy 2 points. So, no surprise that his fouls drawn would not go down.

 

This makes sense to me. I worry that in the playoffs, teams will learn how to mitigate their defensive mistakes in other areas as well (see DaBeard post), and that those improvements will have greater impact on the outcome than any comparable defensive adjustments the Rockets make. Hopefully this will not be the case, and the Rockets win the adjustment battle.

 

So from 2010-2019, teams have shot 1 more free throw per game (FTPG) in the playoffs vs the regular season, on average. 64% of playoff teams over this period have shot more free throws during the playoffs.

Last year, 75% of playoff teams shot more free throws in the playoffs. Biggest benefactor was Milwaukee, who shot about 4.8 more FTPG in the playoffs.

The Rockets have shot less free throws in the playoffs 5 of the last 7 years (Harden era). We shot 2.2 more FTPG in 2013 and 10.7 (!!) more FTPG in 2015. In the down years we averaged 1.4 less FTPG in the playoffs.

In the last 10 years, the number of times we've shot less FTPG in the playoffs is 5. Only the bulls outnumber us here, with 6. On the other hand, the warriors have shot more free throws in the playoffs every year in the last decade (7 total times they made the playoffs). Spurs are at 10!

 

He's getting 8.9 in the playoffs, which is in the highest tier.

Would we be calling this a problem if he were averaging 7 in the regular season?

Seems to me he's just getting some bonus ones in the regular season, which is a positive. You can win a title with that as your franchise player.

Also, Harden's opponents in the playoffs on average have been far superior to anyone else's. We played the most talented team in NBA history more than anyone else. If he were in the East, I bet he gets more in the playoffs.

Context matters. It's not an equal playing field.

 

clear as crystal this league got their agenda (those shitty calls), but as long as we keep hustling n keeping up with our game plan.
like today's game against Celtics, we earned it n forced them changing their dirty agenda.

 

harden got his 2nd FT attempt of the game with 24sec remaining in OT

 

There was no agenda, Harden wasn't that aggressive and Celtics played very good defense. Westbrook had 12 and it's good that they didn't get caught up in this silliness of FT attempts..it's good that they get less calls in general so the team adjusts and knows what to expect come play-off time.

 

smh, agreed.
29.2sec left (101: 96), w/o an absent-minded pass n stole by Hayward, the game would not be forced to OT.
ESPN changed the headline of cover page as 'Westbrook take the lead with Harden's Rockets'. again, hope there are a players only meeting.