The two most overplayed stories in this NBA postseason are the
“good effort kid” and how bad the NBA officiating has been this
year. The truth is that it hasn’t been any worse than any other
year.  There have been some blown calls, no question. Of course,
there are blown calls every year. This year hasn’t been any
worse in terms of bad calls.  Some people feel that the
officials are getting too free with the whistles. This year in
the postseason there have been 42.4 personal fouls per game.
Last year it was 43.0 fouls per game. The year before that it
was 46.6 fouls per game. In 2009 it was 45.4 fouls per game.
For those who want to bring up the “old days” of the late 80s
before the game got “soft” in 1989: There were 49.4 fouls per
game the year of the “Bad Boy” Pistons and the “Jordan Rules.”
Teams aren’t getting any more free throws than in previous
years, either. In fact, this year the average team has taken
17.7 free throws per game. That’s in comparison to 20.2 in 2011,
20.9 in 2010, 19.4 in 2009 and