NBA Finals Won with Luck

[Ne 1]

The '02 Lakers are as deserving as any other team listed in this thread. In the "real" NBA Finals that year, the WCF, they needed the miraculous Horry 3, a rigged Game 6, and the Kings missing half their free throws in Game 7 to win that series. It's arguably the luckiest series win in NBA history

Funny how Game 6 gets all the attention, when game 5 was arguably worse favoring the Kings.

[Ne 1]

Funny how Game 6 gets all the attention, when game 5 was arguably worse favoring the Kings.

People complain about free throws, but who on Sacramento played anywhere near as physical as Shaq or got to the line nearly as much? Who attacked the basket as much as Kobe on the Kings? Nobody. Webber settled for a lot jump shots for a power forward and Bibby and Peja both did a lot of their damage on jumpers while Divac was a finesse player.

In the series, Shaq averaged 9.9 FTA per game and played 41.1 mpg. Kobe averaged 7 FTA per game in the series and played 43.9 mpg. During the season, Shaq averaged 10.7 FTA in 36.1 mpg and Kobe averaged 7.4 FTA in 38.3 mpg.

Hm, so the series was rigged yet Shaq and Kobe attempted less free throws than usual despite a significant increase in minutes?

The Lakers averaged 26.1 FTA during the regular season, and that would be higher with Shaq playing 82 games instead of 67. The Kings averaged 26.3, but usually played at a much faster pace than the Lakers, and of course that becomes equal with both teams playing each other.

The Lakers averaged 26.4 FTA, which is right around their average(and probably lower than their average when Shaq played). The Kings averaged 29.1 FTA, easily topping their season average, and the biggest free throw disparity was not in game 6, but actually in game 3 when the Kings attempted 20 more free throws than the Lakers.

Alright, so the series was rigged in the Lakers favor, yet there was a game on the Lakers homecourt when the Kings had 20 more free attempts than they did? And the Kings attempted significantly more free throws than the Lakers in the series?

The only evidence people even have that the game was somehow "fixed" is that the Lakers took 40 free throws to 25 for the Kings.

That's true, but let's extract the six that came from intentional fouls so it's now 34 to 25. And having watched this game all the way through twice with many plays reviewed over and over, there was a clear difference in aggressiveness between the two teams. The Lakers were incessantly taking the ball into the paint and to the basket, while the Kings took more outside shots. That's not to say there weren't some bad calls but the free throw discrepancy doesn't surprise me.

[SouBeachTalents]

Funny how Game 6 gets all the attention, when game 5 was arguably worse favoring the Kings.

4th quarter of Game 6, tied at 75 after the 3rd

Free throw attempts

Lakers: 27
Kings: 9

[Ne 1]

4th quarter of Game 6, tied at 75 after the 3rd

Free throw attempts

Lakers: 27
Kings: 9

This isn't proof of the game being "rigged." http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=233197

[guy]

There's no such thing as luck in the NBA. Any NBA player can get hot at any given minute and make any shot. These guys don't make the NBA by luck.

This. Even the Ray Allen shot wasn't luck. What it does mean is that the 2013 Heat are probably the closest team to losing a championship without actually losing it.