Free Throws EuroleagueHow the numbers work
What each number means, how it is calculated, and what it cannot tell you.
What these numbers cannot prove
They show whether a team gets more or fewer free throws than expected. They do not show why. Three things get in the way of a simple answer:
- Playing style. A team that keeps driving to the basket earns more free throws fairly. Box scores do not record where shots were taken.
- Winning. Winners take more free throws (21.1 against 18.6 so far). Trailing teams often foul on purpose late in games, so a good team can look favoured simply because it leads.
- Small samples. After 9 games per team, most differences can still be chance. That is why every adjusted number carries a margin.
Opponent-adjusted free throws
The main number on this site. A team's raw totals depend on who it has played and where, so each game is compared with what that opponent usually gets and gives.
- Take the opponent's other games in the same venue role, leaving out every game against this team. If fewer than two exist, use all its other games.
- For: this team's free throw attempts, minus what the opponent usually gives.
- Against: the opponent's attempts, minus what the opponent usually gets.
- Net: For minus Against, averaged over all the team's games.
Olympiacos took 29 free throws and Valencia 25. In their 4 other home games at the time this was written, Valencia gave 14.0 and took 19.0 on average.
The margin
The margin is two standard errors of a team's per-game net values, shown as ±. A net smaller than its margin could still be chance. With 20 teams, about one would go past its margin by chance alone. Adjusted numbers appear from 5 games.
Everything else
Free throws per game
Attempts and makes by the team and by its opponents, divided by games played. Includes extra time.
Points from free throws
Made free throws as a share of total points, for and against. This describes how a team scores, not whether it is favoured.
Difference
Attempts for minus attempts against, per game. Simple, but it ignores who the team has played.
Fouls against expectation
The same adjustment, using fouls called on the opponent minus fouls called on the team. All fouls count, including offensive and technical ones.
Games decided by free throws
Games the winner would not have led without free throws: the winner's extra made free throws are at least the final margin.
Standings without free throws
Made free throws are removed from both teams and the winner is decided again. A tie counts as half a win each. Teams are ranked by wins, then points difference. This is only indicative: those possessions would have played out differently.
Free throws and points by period
The same attempts, counted from the play-by-play in each period, for and against. Points from free throws are made free throws as a share of the points in that period. Extra time is shown separately. A game counts only if its play-by-play adds up to its box score.
The fifth foul
From a team's fifth foul in a period, every defensive foul gives the opponent free throws. Common, offensive, unsportsmanlike and disqualifying fouls count towards the five. Player technicals, coach and bench fouls do not. We show how often a team reaches five, and the median minute of the period when it does. Extra time carries on from the fourth period, so it has no fifth foul of its own.
Minutes and attempts in the bonus
Bonus minutes are the minutes left in a period after the opponent's fifth foul, with zero when it never comes, per period. Attempts in the bonus are the share of a team's free throws taken after that foul. The play-by-play cannot tell a shooting foul from a bonus foul, so some of these would have been free throws anyway.
Official standings
Taken directly from the EuroLeague. Its points totals leave out extra time.
Where the data comes from
All data comes from the EuroLeague's public feeds. This is an independent site, not affiliated with Euroleague Basketball. Each game is checked two hours after tip-off, then again at 6, 24 and 72 hours to catch corrections. Every box score must add up before it counts: players and team totals, periods and final score, and the score in the official schedule. A game that fails stays out of these numbers until it is fixed.