Looks to me to be little correlation here. He's had a higher % of good games against good teams than he has against average teams. He does however own bad teams most of the time.
aelliott: If defenders don't foul Wade, he is going to dunk repeatedly. He is an aggressive driver and finishes extremely well. He has also developed a killer midrange game and a respectable long distance shot which makes it all the more difficult to stop him from driving and dunking like a madman. So its either foul him, or have him shoot basketball's highest percentage shot repeatedly. I'm not convinced that Martin will destroy teams if his pump fakes and jukes don't work. His preferred area of operation is long distance and that is the lowest percentage area. Of course, I realize that he has done it in the regular season and it is possible he could pull the same magic tricks in the playoffs. I just happen to believe that over the course of a 7 game series, defenders will start focusing on his tendencies more and fouling less. Peja is a good example of this, by the way. During his Kings heyday, he was another long distance operator who lit up the regular season scoreboard. Come playoff time, though, teams started sitting on his right hand. Forced off of the free throw line and to his left hand, he struggled to be as efficient as he was in the regular season. Why didnt teams do it during the regular season? Because the games don't matter as much, and because teams have less time to focus on individuals and their tendencies. In the playoffs all of that changes. Specifically, I would trail him the same way Peja got trailed, force him left also, jab step when he starts to ****, then absolutely tear ass down court...the same kind of defense he does. I would also switch it up (especially when Brooks is in the game bringing it up) and push the point guard to the baseline, push Martin to the top of the key to help and thereby force him to create off the bounce from 27 feet away. I'd also post him up and beat him physically on the blocks, all because I think he's a poor post defender, yes, but also because its hard to be Reggie Miller when you're getting pounded like Reginald Denny.
Yes Wade is a great finisher but a large pct of his FT attempts come from him just jumping into the defender and creating contact (usually followed by Wade sprawling on the floor). BTW Wade is shooting 30.1% from behind the arc and that's actually better than his career average so I don't think that I'd classify him as having a "respectible long distance shot". I'm not sure how Peja is relevant as to whether or not Kevin Martin will get foul calls in the playoffs. Peja didn't go to the line a whole lot like Martin. Peja also didn't have the first step that Martin does. What do those two have to do with each other? Did Peja get calls during the regular season that he didn't get in the playoffs? That was the whole point of the discussion. Peja's best years wer 2002 through 2005. Two of those seasons his scoring went down in the playoffs and two years it went up. Sorry, but I'm not following your logic. Peja didn't go to the line that much to begin with, didn't have a major dropoff in FT in the playoffs and had some years where he was better in the playoffs and some years worse. What does that have to do with Kevin Martin getting fouls called in the playoffs as he does in the regular season?
The relevance is that defenses change in the playoffs. That can change the way an offensive player plays. I understand what you're saying, aelliott, I just don't have confidence Martin will be defended the same way in he playoffs...particularly against a coach/team with defensive moxy. Cheers
Forgive me for jumping in. I think players who get to the line in regular season would get fouled even more in playoffs, at least if the conventional wisdom holds. The conventional wisdom tells us that defenses tend to allow fewer easy baskets in the playoffs. That means if you get aggressive, there is a better chance for you to get fouled than to get to the rim. If you are arguing that Martin would be less aggressive in the playoffs, then well we'll see. But I do not agree that Martin's game is predicated on getting fouled in the sense that he totally relies on the mercy of the refs. He gets foul a lot for a reason. If you watch him, he usually gets foul when he pump fakes and then drives. That's exactly how most of those other guys aelliott mentioned get their fouls too. So I don't see why people want to single out Martin's game and see it as a weakness. BTW, there is a possible reason why Martin's game tends to be bad when he doesn't go to the line very much. Could it be that when his shots are falling, the defenders tend to jump at his pump fake more. If he is cold, the defender would stay down and let him shoot, thereby making it harder for his drives to be effective. And that should be true for all offensive players.
Several years ago the playoffs were indeed a much more physical game but that simply isn't true anymore. It use to be "no blood no foul" but today's NBA game has skewed the rules to favor the offense. The referees are making all of the calls in the playoffs unlike past generations. Look no further than the stats from last years playoffs that I posted earlier in the thread. Guys are getting more FT in the playoffs not less.
