With the ridiculous 21-1 (is that what it’s at now?) home record in the second round of the playoffs, with only LA and Detroit winning road games, I wanted to go back and figure out why. Steve Czaban, host of the first team on XM’s Fox Sports Radio, made a point a week or so ago about the refs in the NBA getting too caught up in the game and making fouls because of it. Bored out of my mind, I did some research. The top team mentioned is the away team, meaning the bottom team is the home team. At the bottom, I have the differential in free throws, putting either a (+) — if the home team shot more free throws, and by how many — or a (-) — if the home team shot less free throws, and by how many.

Utah Jazz/LA Lakers Series
-Game 1:
Utah team fouls 33, Utah free throws 30
LA Lakers team fouls 27, LA Lakers free throws 46
Differential: +19 for the home team

-Game 2:
Utah team fouls 30, Utah free throws 16
LA Lakers team fouls 20, LA Lakers free throws 43
Differential: +27 for the home team

-Game 3:
LA Lakers 23 team fouls, LA Lakers free throws 37
Utah Jazz 28 team fouls, Utah Jazz free throws 28
Differential: -9 for the home team

-Game 4:
LA Lakers 33 team fouls, LA Lakers 25 free throws
Utah Jazz 27 team fouls, Utah Jazz 45 free throws
Differential: +20 free throws for the home team

-Game 5:
Utah Jazz 31 team fouls, Utah Jazz 28 free throws
LA Lakers 20 team fouls, LA Lakers 42 free throws
Differential: +14 free throws for the home team

-Game 6:
LA Lakers 24 team fouls, LA Lakers 38 free throws
Utah Jazz 26 team fouls, Utah Jazz 25 free throws
Differential: -13 for the home team

Orlando Magic/Detroit Pistons

-Game 1:
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 15 free throws
Detroit Pistons 17 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 18 free throws
Differential: +3 for the home team

-Game 2:
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 23 free throws
Detroit Pistons 22 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 28 free throws
Differential: +6 for the home team

-Game 3:
Detroit Pistons 20 team fouls, Detroit PIstons 28 free throws
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 28 free throws
Differential: Even

-Game 4:
Detroit Pistons 23 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 15 free throws
Orlando Magic 19 team fouls, Orlando Magic 17 free throws
Differential: +2 for the home team

-Game 5:
Orlando Magic 27 team fouls, Orlando Magic 28 free throws
Detroit Pistons 24 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 32 free throws
Differential: +4 for the home team

San Antonio Spurs/New Orleans Hornets

-Game 1:
San Antonio Spurs 16 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 21 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 17 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 15 free throws
Differential: -6 for the home team

-Game 2:
San Antonio Spurs 21 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 19 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 19 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 24 free throws
Differential: +5 for the home team

-Game 3:
New Orleans Hornets 21 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 21 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 20 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 21 free throws
Differential: Even

-Game 4:
New Orleans Hornets 17 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 12 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 18 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 20 free throws
Differential: +8 for the home team

-Game 5:
San Antonio Spurs 30 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 18 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 23 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 33 free throws
Differential: +15 for the home team

-Game 6:
New Orleans Hornets 19 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 13 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 21 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 18 free throws
Differential: +5 free throws for the home team

-Game 7
Monday Night

Cleveland Cavaliers/Boston Celtics

-Game 1:
Cleveland Cavaliers 23 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 26 free throws
Boston Celtics 21 team fouls, Boston Celtics 18 free throws
Differential: -8 for the home team

-Game 2:
Cleveland Cavaliers 27 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 27 free throws
Boston Celtis 26 team fouls, Boston Celtics 38 free throws
Differential: +11 for the home team

-Game 3:
Boston Celtics 27 team fouls, Boston Celtics 24 free throws
Cleveland Cavaliers 21 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 33 free throws
Differential: +12 for the home team

-Game 4:
Boston Celtics 17 team fouls, Boston Celtics 24 free throws
Cleveland avaliers 17 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 18 free throws
Differential: -6 for the home team

-Game 5:
Cleveland Cavaliers 18 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 41 free throws
Boston Celtics 27 team fouls, Boston Celtics 25 free throws
Differential: -16 for the home team

-Game 6:
Boston Celtics 25 team fouls, Boston Celtics 13 free throws
Cleveland Cavaliers 16 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 25 free throws
Differential: +12 for the home team

-Game 7:
Cleveland Cavaliers 28 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 35 free throws
Boston Celtics 26 team fouls, Boston Celtics 34 free throws
Differential: -1 for the home team

Some interesting stats:

-The averages aren’t that bad; truth be told, I was expecting a much more uneven figure than the home team only averaging right at +5 in free throw differential.

-The home team shot 12 or more free throws than the away team on 8 different occasions; the away team, on the other hand, only shot 12 or more free throws than the home team in 2 games.

-The home team shot 19 or more free throws than the away team in 3 different games; the away team shot 19 or more free throws than the home team zero times.

-Of the 24 games, only 7 times did the away team shoot more free throws than the home team.

-In all of this, one way or another, Joey Crawford is always wrong.