The Jazz do not get the calls at home
by basketballjohn
on May 16, 2008 11:19 AM MDT
The big story to Jazz fans and others was that Utah got the shaft from the refs in the fourth quarter. I didn't have a problem with most of the fouls called on the Jazz, except for two. The first came when Vujacic tripped over the foul line with the ball and kicked it out of bounds. But AK was called for the foul by the ref who was on the other side of the court under the basket. How is that his call to make?
The second came when Odom blew by Boozer from 23 feet out and went in for the dunk. Boozer was so far away from Odom that he would have had to hit Lamar with a Mark Eaton size stick to get a foul. Yet Booze is give the phantom foul.
By biggest gripes were for the fouls that weren't called. The first came when Pau plaued over Harpring on his way to a deuce. Harp was a good foot outside the restricted area and got a knee to the chest. How is that not a charge?
Kobe also got away with one when he spun into Brewer and sent him flying.
Another late no call came with Boozer going up for a shot for the lead got clobbered and nothing was called.
And of course you have the Gasol pushing Memo play with :20 left to get the offensive board and the dunk. Memo did do a bit of acting. But you know what, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Pau would have just gone over the back to get the ball. And is it really fair that Pau is 15 feet tall?
A lot of people talked about the Jazz not being able to get over the hump in their games at LA. In games 1 and 2, they closed to within four and just couldn't get it done. In game 5, they tied but couldn't ever take the lead in the fourth. Boozer was a big part of their loss, but the hump everyone is talking about is the group of three with whistles.
So getting to the point mentioned in the title of the post. First, I hate complaining about refs because that's what almost every fan does when their team loses. And if you think I'm just crying, ask yourself this question (if you've watched the series), when have you seen a call in this series where you thought, "Man, the Lakers got screwed on that call" or "Man, I can't believe the Jazz got away with that." I'd like to hear them if you got them because I don't recall any such plays.
Now, let's really get to the point. All the Lakers fans and other fans will say that we need to shut up because the Jazz get all the calls at home. And I'm here to say, no we don't. Remember, the Jazz are still the most hacking team in the league. That doesn't change at home. The Jazz and opponents both get 23 fouls called a game at the ESA. And the free throws are even as well at 27 apiece. And that despite the Jazz having the second most free throw attempts in the league. If you want to look at free throw disparity, check out LA's home record. They average almost 5 free throws more a game at home than their opponent.
The Jazz do have a home court advantage, but it's not because they get the calls. For whatever reason, they are more efficient at home offensively and that's what gets it done.
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Good post BBJ
Although I’m sure you’ll be hearing some serious dissent from Laker fans.
I have a question – do you think the Jazz are playing at a high level in this series? From what I’ve seen of this team during the regular season and what they can do, I feel like they haven’t played their best basketball (on both offense and on defense) yet. I felt like Game 3 and 4 was better offensively, but I still have not seen them click on a “championship” level. What I mean by this is what we saw in the Spurs last year when they systematically dismantled us and every other team on both ends of the floor. Just unbelievable poise in the face of adversity and the confidence that they would be able to get what they want when they wanted it, whether a key stop or a key bucket.
I don’t think we’ve played our best yet, and we are in Game 6 of the second round facing elimination. The Rockets played some rugged defense on us and threw us off of a lot of the things we wanted to do, but we still got by them without playing our best brand of basketball. Against this Lakers team, do you think it’s the Lakers that are preventing us from playing at a higher level, or is it that this team is not capable/ready to make that leap? Towards the end of the regular season I thought I was seeing them approach the level of confidence and play that was necessary to go for the championship, but now I’m not so sure…
by moneyman memo on May 16, 2008 11:48 AM MDT 0 recs
It's Boozer
I think everyone else has been playing up to expectations. Memo has played well, especially compared to last year’s playoffs. AK has been good. Brewer I think ranks as one of the highest in FG%. He’s playing great when he’s in there. And we all know what Deron is doing. But you’re right, the Jazz aren’t clicking like they were during the Jan stretch when they seemed invincible.
It’s no surprise to anyone that Boozer hasn’t stepped up his game for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s injury or if it’s mental. We all know he can play. You just don’t lose that. I think he’s trying to hard. He seems more worried about his image than playing.
by basketballjohn on
May 16, 2008 2:45 PM MDT
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PTI agrees, sorta
PTI thinks the Jazz were getting shafted on calls on the 4th
by Scrum on May 16, 2008 12:53 PM MDT 0 recs
Thanks.
I wanted to include that but forgot.
by basketballjohn on
May 16, 2008 2:38 PM MDT
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Foul Calls
Assuming I’m reading the tables correctly (always a big assumption!), the link to basketball-reference shows that the Jazz’s opponents get 23.1 fouls called against them on the road (i.e., in SLC) and 23.0 called against them at home—in other words, no difference. The Jazz, on the other hand, get called for 24.8 fouls on the road and 23.3 fouls at home. That seems to indicate that either the refs do let the Jazz get away with a little more contact at home (1.5 fouls worth) or the Jazz simply move their feet better at home. In either case, the Jazz’s opponents do not seem to benefit from being at home in the same way.
More interesting to me is where on the court the fouls seem to occur. When the Jazz are at home, their opponents shoot 27.9 free throw attempts. When the Jazz are on the road, their opponents shoot 32.3 free throw attempts. That’s five additional free throw attempts, but only 1.5 additional fouls (from which I would expect 3 additional free throw attempts at most). So not only do the Jazz get called for less fouls at home (or more on the road, whichever way you prefer to look at it), but they also seem to commit those fouls further away from the basket (i.e. not in the act of shooting). A more energized, aggressive team (the way a team often plays at home) could certainly explain this difference, but I found it interesting.
Hmm. I was just about to post this, but then I decided to look at the Lakers (as you suggest in the post).
Basketball-reference shows that the Lakers’ opponents get 23.3 fouls called against them on the road (i.e., in LA) and 21.8 called against them at home. The Lakers, on the other hand, get called for 20.6 fouls on the road and 20.7 fouls at home—in other words no difference. That seems to indicate that the refs do not let the Lakers get away with more contact at home. However, it does seem to indicate that the refs let the Lakers’ opponents get away with less contact than at home (1.5 fouls worth). The Lakers’ opponents do not seem to benefit from being at home in the same way.
In terms of where the fouls are called, the Lakers shoot 29.2 free throw attempts at home and 26.1 free throw attempts on the road. This seems perfectly consistent with getting 1.5 additional fouls called against their opponents at home. The Lakers’ opponents shoot 24.3 free throw attempts in LA and 24.4 free throw attempts at home, again consistent with the number of fouls called. Now I’m even more curious about what changes in how the Jazz play defense at home vs. on the road.
Long story short: Both the Jazz and Lakers appear to benefit from the refs’ calls at home, but they benefit in very different ways. The Jazz appear to benefit because they are called differently in SLC. The Lakers appear to benefit because their opponents are called diffently in LA.
It would be interesting to know whether all so-called “physical” teams benefit in the same way as the Jazz while all so-called “finesse” teams benefit in the same way as the Lakers.
(For the record, I grew up in Philly and I’m a Sixers fan (I (sometimes—pretty rarely recently) post about them at www.sixerpride.blogspot.com)). If you’re looking for bias, I’d say that I’m rooting for the remaining teams in the following order: Spurs, Celtics, Lakers, Pistons, Jazz, Cavaliers, Hornets.)
by Sam Cohen on May 16, 2008 1:48 PM MDT 0 recs
Thanks for that.
I always hate quoting statistics because I get in over my head pretty fast. There are a lot bigger stat heads that can figure stuff like this out. But what I see is that the Jazz don’t seem to get a major advantage as far as fouls and free throws at home. So that tells me that both sides are called pretty evenly.
by basketballjohn on
May 16, 2008 2:41 PM MDT
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Laker fan here
From what I saw, those two calls I was really confused about. I remember replaying them wondering how in the world they were fouls. (but the okur one was complete acting, well I believed it until I saw it enough times to realize he flopped). I think the jazz got away with one that game where boozer but his shoulder into gasol’s stomach but they called it a block (just trying to take you up on that offer of trying to remember a jazz foul that I went “what!” too)
Shaq:"The kobster, he's an assassin" Answer for who should be mvp.
by ldeep on May 16, 2008 5:22 PM MDT 0 recs
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