When looking at the numbers from the first three games of the Warriors-Lakers second round series, you can’t help but notice the free throw disparity.
Heading into Monday night’s Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers hold an 83-39 advantage in free throws attempted. After Game 3, Draymond Green, Steph Curry and the Warriors noted how the game flow was altered by the frequent whistles on the Warriors, as Los Angeles had a 33-8 advantage in free throws attempted heading into the fourth quarter, which was essentially garbage time.
But while speaking with reporters during Sunday’s media availability in Los Angeles, the Warriors said the officiating was no excuse for the 127-97 loss.
“We didn’t lose the game because of the officials, so there’s no point in whining about anything,” Warriors coach Kerr said. “There were definitely calls we didn’t like but every game every coach can say that. This is not about anything other than our performance.”
The game fit the mold of so many of Golden State’s road losses this season, with fouls, turnovers and bad transition defense leading to poor offensive execution. To pin it solely on the free throws wouldn’t be justified.
“(Saturday) was rough all the way around, but you can’t let it be a distraction or something that makes you lose your composure in the middle of a game,” Steph Curry said. “It’s something you can’t control. As mad as you wanna get about it, as much of a talking point it is, we still had a chance to win the game.”
It’s not like the Lakers are suddenly drawing fouls at a higher rate. They averaged a league-high 26.3 free throws per game this season, so the 27.7 they’ve averaged in the series isn’t too far off their normal mark. Golden State, by comparison, averages a league-low 20.3 free throws per game. It’s also worth noting the Lakers were called for the fewest fouls (17.8 per game) this season, while the Warriors got the second-most personal fouls (21.6 per game).
Draymond Green and JaMychal Green compounded the issue in Game 3 with two preventable technical foul calls after outbursts on the bench. The whistles are going to happen. It’s up to the Warriors to react without letting it affect other parts of their game.
“It’s just a matter of doing whatever you can to block it out, and understand how you can play defense in a way that gets you out of those situations,” Curry said. “Even if it does go against you, understand that we’re talented enough to overcome it. It’d be a good feeling if we did.”
Veteran center Kevon Looney said this is nothing new for the Dubs.
“It’s been like that since I’ve been here,” Looney said. “As a player, you always think you’re getting fouled and you never think you’re fouling. As a team, we’ve been talking about not even complaining about that. Throughout the year, we feel like when we give too much attention on the refs and fouls we kinda lose focus and don’t play as well. We want to focus on what we can control.”
