The Cleveland Cavaliers spent plenty of time complaining about the whistles in the first two games against the Detroit Pistons, and it paid off, as they have been parading to the free-throw line ever since.
Detroit shot just 12 total free throws last night, while the Cavaliers took an incredible 34 attempts from the line. Donovan Mitchell had three more free throw attempts than the entire Pistons roster combined.
The Pistons are a physical team that led the NBA in fouls per game this season, and it was a big concern of mine coming into the series, as Harden and Mitchell are very good about drawing contact and getting to the line.
But the Pistons were called for nearly everything last night, while the Cavaliers were allowed to play more physically at home, which they did well, to their credit.
I’m not making excuses for the Pistons, who continue to shoot themselves in the foot with endless boneheaded turnovers, but when you look deeper into the numbers, it’s clear something doesn’t add up.
It’s the Pistons’ turn to gripe at the officials
If all things were equal and you just looked at the free throw numbers, you’d assume Cleveland was the more aggressive team and that they spent a lot of the night in the paint, but you’d be way wrong.
The Cavaliers took a whopping 41 attempts from 3-point range but only had 37 attempts from inside the arc. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game when a team had almost as many free-throws as they did two-point attempts.
The Cavs had just 34 points in the paint compared to 50 from the Pistons, who took just 23 attempts from long range and 60 from inside the arc.
So, the jump shooting team that barely went into the lane was rewarded with 34 free throws, while the team that lived in the lane took 12 total.
Let’s go deeper!
According to Sports Reference, “Only 9 times in NBA history has a team had 60+ 2PA and less than 15 FTA while their opp. had 40+ 3PA and 30+ FTA.”
I don’t know man, when you are getting into history, something is always wonky, and this is no different, as there is simply no way a team can be in the lane that much and not get fouled. Like I said, the Pistons foul, fine, but you have to call them both ways.
The Cavaliers went an entire quarter without committing a foul, which just seems logically unlikely in a series with this much physicality.
This is a scary reality for the Pistons
The truth is that how the game is called is very important for Detroit. If they are allowed to play more physically, then their defense is tough to crack, but if the refs are calling it tight against them, we get stuck with what we had last night.
The refs shouldn’t have this much effect on the outcome of the game, but it’s the reality of playoff basketball, where whistles shift from game to game. The Pistons have to adjust, stop picking up the dumb ones, or they are going to lose this series at the line.
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