Comments on: How Unusual Was the Finals Foul Disparity?

By: Gasol=cheating

Gasol=cheating — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:49:07 +0000

How can anybody talk about the 4th quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals 2010 without talking about Pau Gasol? and I find it odd that nobody brings up Gasol's plays in the 4th qtr.
Gasol was not whistled for 1 violation in the entire 4th quarter. Gasol knocked two balls out of bounds, travelled twice, charged into Pierce, knocked down Rondo, hit Davis in the head and knocked his head backwards, got a cheap and 1 on the first play of the 4th with Davis, and got another bailout on a play with Garnett, ALL in the 4th qtr.
Gasol was involved in 10 plays in the 4th quarter, ALL 10 plays gave the ball to the Lakers. ALL 10 PLAYS. Gasol was untouchable in the 4th qtr of Game 7. Gasol was called for nothing, no foul on Gasol, no travel on Gasol, no ball knocked out of bounds by Gasol, no up and down by Gasol, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The refs used their whistle 10 TIMES in thie 4th qtr of Game 7 on plays involving Pau Gasol. ALL 10 PLAYS gave the ball to the Lakers. How does ANY player get 10 calls in their favor, with 0 against, in the last quarter of the entire season? How does that happen? How can you talk about Game 7 2010 without bringing up the plays Gasol was involved with. Even when you talk about the 4th qtr, that doesn't include Garnett's basket taken away on and And1, Rondo's layup taken away, Gasol hacking Garnett then the refs call it a block, Kobe falling down while dribbling no travel called then the Lakers score on that posession, etc.

Go watch the 4th qtr again. Go watch the 10 plays that Gasol was involved with in the 4th quarter where play was stopped because of a referee whistle. Go watch as ALL 10 PLAYS give the Lakers the ball, and tell me how can that happen in the last quarter of an entire season without something funny going on.

By: Abe Lincoln

Abe Lincoln — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:52:38 +0000

Stern fixed the finals and helped LA, its the only way they would have won.

By: Dre

Dre — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:06:13 +0000

The problem is, L.A. got the early whistle in the 4th qtr (game 7) putting them in the penalty VERY early. It appears that after BOS went up 13 pts, the fouls started going L.A.'s way. I'm not sayin'... I'm just sayin'...

By: nimble

nimble — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:32:58 +0000

If only Kobe had received the same treatment from refs like MJ DWade and LJames and hell even Durantula..

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:36:36 +0000

Following up with my previous comment, one would expect finals games to be tighter than the average regular season game of the top teams in the league. So the issue of fouls at the end of a close games might have some significance for foul and free throw attempt stats.

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:33:44 +0000

I didn't read through all the comments since there are so many but has anybody factored in the issue of teams leading at the end of a close or semi-close game? The team in the lead is going to shoot a lot more free throws when the other team intentionally fouls. This is something else that the statistical analysis might not have accounted for.

By: loe

loe — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:45:30 +0000

Nothing works better than the eye test. Most of the boston fouls were fouls but in the fourth quarter the refs swallowed the whistle on obvious fouls commited by the Lkaers. Gasol fouls Garnett on almost every shot he takes but becuase he fades away it's easy to miss,but garnett beat gasol to the basket and Gasol fouls him hitting him on the wrist but gets credited with a block, they show the replay and announcers say,hand part of the ball(lol). In real time it was a obvious foulcuz he got beat and garnet had the ball up high, Glenn davis goes to the rim shoots draws lots of contact(body at that ) no foul( this happened numerous times in this game and throughout series no call). That crazy looking play by pierce on Gasol was actually a headsy play cuz the big man (gasol) was dribbling with his head down blocking call on pierce. The whistles went one way in final quarter. They called anything close for LA while ignored the obvious for Boston.

By: Clint Matthews

Clint Matthews — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:12:47 +0000

This has been a great discussion. We need to account for fatigue when calculating fouls, especially in the NBA Finals. Anyone who has played basketball knows that you are far more likely to foul (especially on the defensive end) when you tire. Throughout the Finals both Boston and LA looked tired. Both teams had played a lot of games and were dealing with injury and fatigue. This was especially true during the second half of Game 7 (by far the most physical game of the entire playoffs). Both teams looked drained in the fourth quarter. Kobe admitted as much after the game. Boston's front court players were especially gassed. Each of them played more than they were used to because of Perkins' injury. A number of the fouls (for both teams) occurred when players were reacting slowly to the ball. Players were reaching and grabbing instead of playing good defense or rebounding cleanly. I think this was especially true of Boston. I think this makes it difficult to make too many assumptions based on this quarter.

By: Anon x 2

Anon x 2 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:09:30 +0000

"to take a charge" was meant to be "to take a foul"

By: Anon x 2

Anon x 2 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:08:44 +0000

But you're matching things up based on statistics, not how to say this...the way the game was played. For instance: let's say Bynum is prone to fouling in help situations a lot, and most specifically on point guards and centers who penetrate into the lane looking to attack the basket. I think this is actually reasonable as it happened vs Westbrook, Amar'e, and Deron in the playoffs. Now, Bynum's foul numbers dropped big time in the finals? Why? A. Garnett never attacked him when matched up and Perkins has been too scared to shoot for 4 months since his wrist injury. B. Kobe played so far off Rondo, he almost never got into the paint (outside of fast breaks), so Bynum was rarely in position to take a charge. So while Bynum usually fouls little dudes coming into the paint, this rarely happened in the series because of the matchup. League wide number analysis will never figure this out. It doesn't "taint" the methodology, but it at least suggest that this could be a situation outside the confidence interval. There will also be certain matchups where long term numbers won't matter. Perhaps they're uncommon, but they certainly exist. And while many teams play back off Rondo, none played as far back as Kobe and this is because the Lakers are the only team with the inside length and ability to play their taller SG on Rondo. Name me another NBA team that could pull this off? Portland when everyone is healthy, perhaps?