This is a story about a boring topic, so maybe the story will be boring, too. It's crucial, though, to the Pacers' season. All of their seasons, in fact.
It's about foul shots, those interruptions to the flow of basketball games that don't inspire fans to get out of their seats unless it's to go to the restroom or the refrigerator. There's no drama in a player shooting an unguarded shot from 15 feet, but there are plenty of wins and losses in those attempts.
It's simple, really. To get to the foul line, you have to get fouled. And to get fouled you more than likely have to get the ball close to the basket, or at least get the defense off-balance. In other words, getting to the foul line means you're probably running good offense, with crisp ball movement, patience and savvy shot selection. Undisciplined teams that run up and down the court and fire up jumpers don't draw many fouls, nor do they win many games.
It applies to a team's defensive discipline, too. “Lazy” fouls resulting from stagnant feet will hurt a team just as much as taking bad shots.
The Pacers have shot 58 fewer foul shots than opponents this season, a stat that doesn't get talked about but has a lot to do with the 15-25 record they'll take into Friday's game against Detroit at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The simplified breakdown is that they've had 15 games in which they made more foul shots than the opponent, and are 9-6 in those. One of the exceptions came last Saturday in Philadelphia, when they outscored the 76ers 30-18 from the foul line while getting there a season-high 42 times, but lost. For that to happen, the 76ers – easily the NBA's worst 3-point shooting team – had to hit 11-of-24 attempts while the Pacers hit 4-of-18.
In other words, weird things – outliers – usually have to occur to overcome the direct impact of foul shooting.
Pacers coach Frank Vogel made free throw attempts a point of emphasis for his team in the preseason, and has been preaching it to his players ever since. Although it's shown improvement lately, it needs more. Indiana ranks 21st in the NBA in free throws attempted and 22nd in free throws made. It's no coincidence their won-loss record is tied for 21st.
“It's about our assertiveness and our ball movement,” Vogel said. “It's not about throwing your body into defenders when you have the ball, it's about moving the basketball. When you move the ball you create open lanes and open attacks at the rim where they're forced to foul you.”
The Pacers' execution has suffered because of the lack of chemistry that has been the inevitable result of their bizarre run of injuries. Players are in unfamiliar positions, learning to play with unfamiliar teammates. That has limited ball movement and caused more players to go one-on-one or fire up quick jumpers. Solomon Hill leads the Pacers in free throws made and attempted because he's the most aggressive penetrator. Center Roy Hibbert probably should be the team leader because of his size and position near the basket, but ranks second because of persistent foul trouble.
The greatest factor in the Pacers' shortage of trips to the foul line, though, can be explained quite simply.
“We don't have Paul George,” David West said. “That's a huge part of it.”
George led the Pacers with 464 free throw attempts last season, 195 more than the second-place Hibbert. He had taken just 274 foul shots the previous season, when he settled for more jump shots and wasn't as willing to take hits around the basket. He hit 86 percent of his foul shots last season, so points were practically guaranteed when he got there. (Detlef Schrempf is the Pacers' single-season record holder with 653 attempts in the 1992-93 season.)
The impact of getting to the line is most obvious when viewed in season-wide scale, because there's nearly always a direct correlation between free throw attempts and won-loss record. Only three times in the past 32 seasons have the Pacers not had a winning record when getting off more foul shots than opponents, or not had a losing record when they failed to do so.
Beyond that, the margin of difference is nearly always reflected in the won-loss record. The better the record, the greater the difference in attempts between the Pacers and their opponents. Last season, when they won 56 games, they took 139 more foul shots than opponents. In 2003-04, when they won 61 games, they took 214 more. In 1982-83, when they won 20 games, they had 503 fewer attempts. It tends to go like that.
The most recent exceptions came in the 1996-97 season, when the Pacers attempted 154 more free throws but finished 39-43; in 1993-94 when they had 35 fewer attempts but finished 47-35; and in 1989-90, when they had 60 fewer attempts but finished 42-40. In the five seasons they have finished 41-41, they had fewer attempts four times, but usually by a narrow margin.
The NBA teams coached by Slick Leonard from 1976-81 defied the trend, as three of the four had losing records despite getting to the line more often. A lesser field goal percentage was a factor those seasons. All three of Leonard's ABA championship teams, however, shot a greater quantity of free throws than opponents.
It's boring, yes. But crucial and overlooked, too. Put it this way. Reggie Miller thrilled fans by hitting 2,880 3-pointers during his 18 seasons with the Pacers (playoffs included), but he contributed to more victories with his 7,007 free throws.
And hardly anybody said a word about them.
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