DMC
05-04-2015, 09:46 AM
As close as these games were, it's easy enough to say anyone could have won this or that game. It's even easier to look at a particular play or foul call and say that changed the outcome of the game. The truth though is much easier to find if anyone cared to look. It's not a pleasant one though, it doesn't paint the Spurs as victims of preferential treatment or of a coach's poor performance. It doesn't rest on the shoulders of one person, not just one person anyhow.
In the prior two playoff runs, the Spurs shot 76% from the free throw line. In this opening round, they shot a pedestrian 68%. Tony Parker shot 59%, Tim shot an even lower 56%. Tiago shot a paltry 32%.
The games were decided by just a few points, for the most part. This dropoff in free throw shooting is difficult to explain. You could probably explain away one person have an issue, perhaps Tiago's calf was bothering him and it affected his shot. Perhaps Tony's Achilles was bothering his shot as well. Tim doesn't shoot great from the line anyhow, so perhaps it was just a slump at the wrong time. Individually any of those could be dismissed, but when you put them all together in a 7 game series that was decided by just two points in the 7th game, they become the proverbial turd in the punch bowl and the answer becomes crystal clear: The Spurs lost the series because they couldn't hit free throws.
Perhaps it's a bit of poetic justice that a team who intentionally fouls another to send a poor shooter to the line falls victim to poor shooting from the line, perhaps. I don't think that explains dropping 9 percentage points off of the team FT shooting percentage. In prior months the Spurs shot in the high 70's to 80's from the charity stripe. In April they shot 81% while Tony was shooting 50%. Tony's FT shooting woes seem to have surfaced in April.
So why did all of these guys start missing free throws during this series? If they shot their normal FT% the Spurs finish this series in 5 games.
In the prior two playoff runs, the Spurs shot 76% from the free throw line. In this opening round, they shot a pedestrian 68%. Tony Parker shot 59%, Tim shot an even lower 56%. Tiago shot a paltry 32%.
The games were decided by just a few points, for the most part. This dropoff in free throw shooting is difficult to explain. You could probably explain away one person have an issue, perhaps Tiago's calf was bothering him and it affected his shot. Perhaps Tony's Achilles was bothering his shot as well. Tim doesn't shoot great from the line anyhow, so perhaps it was just a slump at the wrong time. Individually any of those could be dismissed, but when you put them all together in a 7 game series that was decided by just two points in the 7th game, they become the proverbial turd in the punch bowl and the answer becomes crystal clear: The Spurs lost the series because they couldn't hit free throws.
Perhaps it's a bit of poetic justice that a team who intentionally fouls another to send a poor shooter to the line falls victim to poor shooting from the line, perhaps. I don't think that explains dropping 9 percentage points off of the team FT shooting percentage. In prior months the Spurs shot in the high 70's to 80's from the charity stripe. In April they shot 81% while Tony was shooting 50%. Tony's FT shooting woes seem to have surfaced in April.
So why did all of these guys start missing free throws during this series? If they shot their normal FT% the Spurs finish this series in 5 games.