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The Los Angeles Lakers have played a mostly thrilling and incredible Western Conference Finals thus far, with incredible individual scoring performances, jaw-dropping displays of athleticism and coordination, and even an instantly iconic buzzer-beater.
So unsurprisingly, all people have wanted to talk about is the trade.
The Lakers are up 3-1, and after they took that lead with a Game 4 win on Thursday, the conversation among fans on social media, and disappointingly, even among members of the media on Twitter who should know. rather, he instantly focused on whether the NBA had “rigged” the series for the Lakers. It was easy to point out “evidence” if you didn’t think so much or do so much research.
For one thing, the Lakers threw 35 free throws while the Nuggets made 23 in Game 4. And the game happened after Lakers head coach Frank Vogel suggested the team had let the NBA know. through the “proper channels” that weren’t. happy with the number of free throws LeBron James was getting (he shot 14 in Game 4 after getting 10 in the previous three games).
So that’s it, right? LeBron called Adam Silver, and the Lakers going to the final? Well not exactly.
Yes, the Lakers made more free throws than the Nuggets in Game 4, but four of them committed intentional fouls late in the game when Denver tried to stop the clock. Are nine free throws really evidence of a conspiracy? Probably not (or the NBA just sucks at manipulation games, if so).
There is also the reality that the Nuggets were only called three more fouls than the Lakers in Game 4, and they have been dead, even on free throw attempts over the course of the series, all while the Lakers have been. called for more fouls. than the Nuggets have been.
Over 4 games, both the Lakers and the Nuggets have tried 113 free throws. The Lakers have received 109 fouls and the Nuggets 97.
– Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) September 25, 2020
Still, a lot of people wondered if the Lakers complaining about the umpires gave them a favorable whistle. Nuggets head coach Mike Malone even as he said defeat it wasn’t just about free throws, still had a crack for the Lakers and the league:
Nuggets coach Mike Malone: ”I’m going to have to go through the right channels like they did to get more free throws.”
– Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) September 25, 2020
That’s funny in the context of Vogel’s comment above, but what are the “right channels” and how often do teams use them? In an attempt to clear up all of the confusion about all of this and show that talking to the league about this is a normal thing that all teams do on a regular basis, I asked Frank Vogel about it after Lakers practice on Friday.
“It’s very simple,” Vogel said. “We don’t file any complaints or anything like that, there’s a thing called an arbitration portal that allows you to send calls that you think were previously incorrect calls from the game. We do that in every game, all year long, just like every team, and this series has been no different. So I think it’s a bogus narrative in terms of what you mean by all the foul talk. “
Don’t you think all teams do this, as Vogel says? Even Malone himself acknowledged in Denver practice that the Nuggets do the exact same thing, while reiterating that fouls are not the reason his team is down 3-1.
“The fouls are fouls. Obviously, we have submitted some of the clips that we feel were missed last night. We will leave it at that and await the response from the NBA, ”Malone said. “But the rebound has nothing to do with it. Dwight Howard dominated in the first quarter: eight points, eight rebounds, four on the offensive end. They had 25 second chance points. When the shot goes up, we have to be much more physical. We have been caught staring at the ball or we have committed, but not with the amount of energy and struggle necessary.
“There was a stretch, I think at the end of the game, it was a game of five points and three possessions in a row. We just needed a stop and we forced failure, but we couldn’t rebound. Now they have an extra possession. LeBron James threw a free throw and missed. He got the rebound himself and put it back on, ”Malone continued. “We can get caught up in that and use the referees as an easily available excuse if we want to. I’m not going to do it, because we didn’t lose the game last night to anyone but ourselves. We didn’t find the fight on the glass. And let’s go back, coming into this series, we talked about two things over and over, at least I did: it was transitional defense and rebounding. I think the rebound has a lot to do not only with last night, but with this series in general. “
So look, people are still going to conspire about this. They’ll yell “rigged for ratings” as if the NBA wasn’t expecting a Los Angeles battle that Denver denied the league, or they’ll mention “Tim Donaghy” as if he’s a trustworthy individual. This is all in bad faith and designed to attract the lowest common denominator that is angry that the Lakers are winning.
But did the Lakers talk to the league about fouls? Yes, but also the Nuggets and all the other teams in the NBA. They would have everybody be negligent in not using the league portal for that purpose. However, it is not the reason the Lakers have a 3-1 lead, just as it will not be the reason they win or lose Game 5. The umpires have been inconsistent throughout every bubble, because umpiring is difficult. . We shouldn’t assign to the conspiracy what is much easier to attribute to human error, and it clearly vanishes if you look at the actual numbers in the series.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast at iTunes, Spotify, Stapler or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
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