Utah fans, please sit down and be quiet concerning the supposed discrepancy in foul calls. You, above all other fans, have no right to complain. Since the beginning of this decade, your team has finished in the top 3 teams of free throws attempted six times. That’s 1st in 01-02, second in 02-03, 06-07 and this year, and third 00-01 and 05-06. You can also throw in the year you finished fourth in 03-04.
Excluding this year when you finished fourth in favorable foul calls, for the past 7 years, you haven’t finished any lower than second. That happened twice. Every other year, you’ve finished first. Betcha didn't know that...
Flip that over to how many fouls you give up and you have finished first an astounding 6 times. Everyone who watches basketball knows how Jerry Sloan teams play. They are physical and impose their will through hard fouls. If you are a true fan, you would know this about your own team.
And for those fans still convinced that the Lakers get all kinds of calls, here is the evidence that the Jazz get more.
I’ll lay out a chart so you can visually see how they finished side by side. With the order in which they finished and the actual number of freethrow attempts.
Lakers Jazz
00-01: (2) 2333 (3) 2280
01-02: (6) 2138 (1) 2430
02-03: (8) 2129 (2) 2349
03-04: (1) 2352 (4) 2196
04-05: (14) 2137 (8) 2272
05-06: (17) 2172 (3) 2466
06-07: (9) 2221 (2) 2462
07-08: (5) 2270 (2) 2298
Fouls called for…
00-01: (3) 2002 (2) 2006
00-02: (4) 1890 (1) 2069
02-03: (4) 1916 (1) 1950
03-04: (1) 2024 (2) 1999
04-05: (19) 1814 (1) 2058
05-06: (9) 1925 (1) 2104
06:07: (8) 1916 (1) 2010
07-08: (5) 1850 (4) 1891
If you look at these charts, and please do look at them, the Lakers have only shot more free throws than the Jazz twice in the past eight years. The first was in 2000-01 when Shaq actually found himself on the court 74 times. The second time is in 2004 when the Lakers were delivered the Jazz’s top free throw shooter (in terms of bulk) in the Mailman. Other than that, the Jazz have annually been one of the top (in terms of bulk) free throw shooting teams in the league each and every year.
If you say that freethrows are not the all important number (although, I must remind you that freethrow discrepancy has been one of the main Jazz arguments for Lakers victories) the Jazz have been in the top 2 every year for the past 7 years. This past season, they only got to number 4. The only season that the Lakers had more fouls called in their favor, was again, that same 2004 season when the had four hall of famers playing together. With Shaq, Kobe and Malone, they are going to get a ton of calls because that trio is a matchup nightmare. Throw in Payton and forget it. And yet, if you look, the Lakers, with that foursome, still only had 25 more fouls go their way—that’s ALL season—than the Jazz.
So, there is no conspiracy. I mean, the Washington Wizards have been one of the top freethrow shooting teams in the league too. They haven’t won squat. Please, let’s try and watch tonight's games with our eyes and not our hearts. I admit, it is a hard task. So when the Jazz go on to finally lose one at home, for your own sake Jazz fans, so as not to appear too unintelligent, at least try.
Keywords: Karl Malone, Kobe, Los Angeles Lakers, Payton, Shaq, Utah Jazz
Comments
Total number of fouls only takes into account exactly that: fouls that were called. It doesn't inlude non-calls, of which there were plenty in this series that benefited the Lakers. It also doesn't take into account which fouls were called and when they were called. In game 5 the Jazz tied the game several times late, but each time they'd get one or a series of calls against them that stopped their momentum. The timing of those calls was critical. Also, whether you want to call it a pushoff or not (I think it was debatable whether it was an actual foul, but I believe if it had been Okur against Gasol, the refs would have called it) the pushoff late in game 5 cinched it for the Lakers. If they call that foul, Gasol doesn't make that layup, and the game is still up for grabs.
The fact that the Jazz frequently shoots more free throws than their opponents just makes it even more suspicious as to why there was such a disparity in this series, specifically game 3 when the Lakers shot 43 free throws to the Jazz's 16.
I admit, it's not a very clear cut thing I'm trying to describe. If I were on the inside maybe I'd have more concrete information to dole out, but I'm just piecing together what's available to me to expain my conspiracy theory.
I admit we're both picking and choosing facts to display. Sure if someone had hit more free throws the game could have turned out differently. But (and I may have said this in my post) at some point, when you're the team that continues to lose, it's like someone holding your head under water, telling you "if only you had held your breath longer, you wouldn't have drowned."
As for how the Spurs won, I admit that's kind of a push as I don't like either team and neither one is really much of a crowd-pleaser on the level of the Lakers. But according to http://www.cnbc.com/id/23810523/ Tim Duncan has the 10th highest selling jersey of all time; no Suns are on that list. Could that be it? Sure, I don't know, but it sure was suspicious how that game and series were called.
And that one was truly game changing. I'll be the first to admit Turiaf probably shouldn't have even gotten a flagrant 1 on that foul; I think the fact that it happened after the whistle is what did him in, but it shouldn't have gotten him ejected. That said, is Turiaf really a game-changing player? When you have Kobe on your team? He got some good blocks in when Deron tried to drive, but that was about it. I like Turiaf, but I wouldn't say his ejection was game changing.
As for the Pistons, Heat, and Spurs: I admit, they aren't huge markets like LA. But the Heat have Shaq (#5 jersey all time) and D-Wade and the Spurs have Duncan (#10). I don't know how Detroit fits into my theory, especially since they beat a loaded Lakers team (Malone did get suspended that year for elbowing Steve Nash on a rebound). Even though Miami and Detroit are not huge cities, they're still in large metro areas, so that might cover it. Logically, then, New York should be in it every year, and I'll give you that. But I'll also say you can't take a horrible team and hand them championships without people being suspicious. LA already has a really good team; a little help from the league and the refs could go a long way without raising too many eyebrows.
The rest of your post I'm afraid is as guilty of picking and choosing as my post is. Boozer did indeed disappear from the entire playoffs, and if he had played up to his standard that he set through the regular season, I believe the Jazz would have handled the Lakers. But he played like crap, and I can't hold that against anyone but Boozer himself. But despite all of that, every game was close, and several of them seemingly came down to questionable calls. The fourth quarter in game 5 was full of them, but all I can really remember right now is the foul they called on Deron as Fisher was shooting a three at the buzzer before halftime. And the Lakers ended up winning by three. Which seems to happen to us every year. That's really the impetus behind my post: I know every team gets crap calls against them, but somehow, every other team gets through it and gets a taste of glory at least once. Why not my Jazz, who had a Hall of Fame coach and two Hall of Fame players together for 15 years. How did they not win at least one championship? That's when I start looking more closely.
But maybe I'm just another crackpot conspiracy theorist who doesn't believe we landed on the moon. But thanks a whole heap for responding. Good to know at least one person read it. Thanks!