Take one, they’re free
With the Cavs opening the playoffs Saturday against Chicago, the fear is palpable that the team’s poor free-throw shooting may turn out to be its Achilles heel. The Cavs finished 30th (that’s last if you are scoring at home) in the NBA at .720 percent this year.
The PD’s Bill Livingston laid out a sound argument in a column this week that a team can win an NBA title while shooting poorly from the free-throw line. The good folks at Waiting for Next Year did a lengthy statistical breakdown last month of the Cavs’ woes.
But just because a team can win while shooting poorly on free shows, that doesn’t mean the team should take a cavalier approach at the line. This is still Cleveland after all.
In fact, poor free-throw shooting has played a major role in Cavaliers playoff history.
In the Miracle of Richfield season, the series with Washington was 2-2 as the teams returned to the court for Game 5. With the Bullets up by one with seven seconds left in the game, Washington’s Elvin Hayes went to the line with a chance to put the Bullets up by three, which would have closed out the game as there was no 3-point shot at the time. Hayes bricked both, allowing the Cavs to steal a win on Jim Cleamons’ last-second shot.
If Hayes had made those shots, the Bullets probably would have closed out the series back home in Game 6.
In 1985, poor free-throw shooting absolutely killed the Cavs in their upset bid against the 63-win Celtics. The Cavs lost the series 3-1, but the three losses were by three points (126-123), two points (108-106) and two points (117-115) and in the series the Cavs missed 26 free throws.
And, in 2006, Gilbert Arenas missed two free throws with 15 seconds left and the Cavs Damon Jones’ subsequent game-winning jumper led to the Wizards’ season-ending 114-113 loss in overtime.
Still not worried?
With four of the Cavs top five big men shooting below 70 percent from the line – J.J. Hickson (.681), Anderson Varejao (.663), Antawn Jamison (.506) and Shaq (.496) – it’s going to be interesting to see how Mike Browns works his rotation late in a close game.
Red Right 88 