There’s a reason we call free throws free throws. They’re free looks at the basket. The same could be said for the line where they’re shot from: the charity stripe. All these words connote ease. Except, this isn’t the case for the man who has done more for the Golden State Warriors on both sides of the ball than anyone else in the 2015 NBA Finals.
Andre Iguodala is playing out of his mind, but his free throw shooting is making Warriors fans lose theirs.
So far in the 2015 NBA Finals, he’s shooting 54.9 percent from the floor, 40.7 percent on three-point attempts and 33.3 percent from the stripe.
Yesterday, he missed nine free throws in a row while going 2-of-11 from the stripe. He was 5-of-11 overall from the field and 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. He’s the inverse of nearly everyone else in the NBA. And no one in NBA playoff history has shot as accurately from the field and from deep while simultaneously being unable to find the bottom of the cup on his free throws.
A lot of Uproxx writers, Twitter chirpers and others were proclaiming Iggy the Finals MVP after his behind-the-back dime Sunday night and continued all-around brilliance settling the offense, defending LeBron straight-up and knocking down open three-pointers when the Cavs sag towards Curry and Klay Thompson.
But he was also such a liability at the stripe, the Cavs intentionally fouled him three times when trailing by 10 with under three minutes to play in the fourth. One of those fouls even produced this bit of tag in the Dubs backcourt.
The second one led to a dangerous almost collision with James Jones:
The third was a weird play where Iggy bricked a free throw, got his own rebound off the deflection, only to have Delly foul him again.
Does that look like a Finals MVP? Especially considering the competition has a pretty good candidate.
It would be great if Andre got the Finals MVP after accepting a role off the bench after what was supposed to be a lateral move from Denver. He had never coming off the bench once in his career before this season. He and David Lee are two former All-Stars who came off the bench and sacrificed personal accolades and numbers for the betterment of the team. That Iggy is shining in June is a testament to that selfless kismet coming back for him.
But the guy has to hit his free throws if he’s going to receive legitimate consideration for Finals MVP when you know who is going Super Saiyan.
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