The three point shot is considerably harder to make than the free throw. So yeah, you should miss more of those. The free throw is the easiest shot, statistically speaking, to make. So yeah, you should make more of those. If you go to the free throw line, that is a sign of very good things (as you are saying). That assumption works because you assume that you will make a vast majority of your free throws. If you miss your free throws, that is just an empty possession, on a possession you were given the easiest shot in basketball to make. Furthermore, at the end of games, when the pressure is on, my expectation is for more folks to drain free throws than any other shot in the book because, yes, they are the easiest shot. That does not always happen and did not happen tonight.

All that sad, we got to the line more (a lot more) and made more free throws than they shot. That is, as you said, typically a recipe for success........but in my opinion, you could left the free throw thing alone tonight. It was benign. It didn't make or break this game......

I appreciate the other stuff in the post, especially the parts about turnovers and Cartier.....