The Finger Points Outwards - No. 42: Does Distracting Free Throw Shooters Work?

Watching the NBA Finals today, and seeing the Thunder fans hold up "Welcome to Brick Town" signs as the Miami Heat players aimed to make free throws, I wondered if players do actually shoot worse from the free throw line when they play away compared to when they play at home.

My suspicion was that they do not, or at least not by much. This article (though it's a few years old now) supports my suspicion.

(If that really is the case, it would be interesting to see in which areas teams actually are worse in when they are away - obviously they must do worse in at least some aspects of the game, because teams win less on the road.)