Over the past few years, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch has become an outspoken critic of the OKC Thunder. His vitriol toward the organization seemingly fueled an in-game ejection during their recent face-off this past Friday night.
The main talking point about his disdain for Oklahoma City centers on the narrative that they receive favorable treatment from officiating teams, specifically highlighting that they "foul all the time" yet don't get any consequential whistles, and that defenses "can't really touch" Shai Gilgeous-Alexander without getting penalized themselves.
This outcry, coupled with his recent first-half tossing, has sparked a new, widespread discussion about a conspiracy of refs favoring the Thunder, which, though it has caught the attention of fans and pundits alike, is easily debunkable by a simple look at the per-game metrics.
Chris Finch complaints on Thunder not backed by facts
Through 28 games played, the Thunder currently find themselves ranking either in the middle or toward the bottom of the league's ranks in several key foul-related categories.
Whether it's their 18-ranked personal fouls committed (21.2) or their middling 16-ranked free throw attempts per game (24.7), the numbers regularly show Oklahoma City blending in with the rest of the league.
Ironically, as far as charity stripe activity is concerned, the Timberwolves find themselves placing in at a far more favorable sixth overall in free throw attempts per game (27.4).
Meanwhile, the Thunder only find one player (Gilgeous-Alexander) falling into the top 60 when it comes to free-throw attempts. Minnesota has both Julius Randle (7.3) and Anthony Edwards (7.1) clocking into the top 16.
When it comes to the SGA "free throw merchant" narrative, he's far from the most frequent resident at the line, as he ranks fourth in per-game attempts (9.5) and has seen 226 of his 878 points scored this year come through such means, equating to a mere 25.7 percent of his total.
Simply put, the Thunder are by no means an anomaly when it comes to how they're treated by the referees.
It just so happens that when they are given the opportunity to head to the free-throw line, they capitalize on such opportunities better than the rest of the league, as they sport the highest free-throw percentage this year with a clip of 83.8 percent.
So while coach Finch may be fixated on this belief that the Thunder are more in good graces with the officials than the other 29 teams strewn across the association, the numbers clearly show that there's a stark distinction between feelings and facts on this matter.