Magic vs. Free throws: Halliburton zero free throws, Alexander takes 26 shots

Recently, the third game of the NBA Finals kicked off, and the Pacers ushered in a home tour of the Finals that lasted more than 20 years. Although their situation was not favored, they went all out and successfully led the Thunder 2:1.

As the team's core star, Halliburton performed well in this game, almost completing triple-double data, showing all-round strength on both offense and defense, leading his teammates to knock down the incoming Thunder. However, despite Halliburton's active performance, he did not get any free throw opportunities throughout the game, which is extremely rare in NBA history and has caused a lot of discussion. In sharp contrast to this, Alexander made 26 free throws in three games and hit 23, including 12 free throws in a single game, and the other two have not exceeded 10, with an average of nearly 9 free throws per game. The core players of the two teams have huge differences in the number of free throws, and the referee is unable to stay out of the matter. Especially as the Pacers' point guard, Halliburton is under great defensive pressure, and the Thunder players' pressing against him has almost never relaxed.

In the crucial third game, Halliburton was first knocked to the ground by Dort and was pulled more obviously at the end, but the referee just glanced at it and showed no expression, which made Halliburton very angry. Although the Thunder had many edge fouls when defending, especially Caruso and Doulter's foul moves, the Pacers didn't complain too much. After the game, Halliburton even praised Alexander's performance and tight defense. However, fans felt unacceptable and bluntly said that Halliburton was like a player with magic, but encountered Alexander who was crazy free throws.

However, reality proves that free throws cannot replace magic after all, and insisting on fouls is not as effective as scoring a goal like magic. As fans joked, whenever the Thunder tried to deliberately seek a foul, the Pacers players seemed to magically grow wings to avoid the foul.