Thunder aim to avoid foul trouble against Rockets

The Rockets in the regular-season led the NBA in free throws attempted per game, averaging 26.5. Oklahoma City did a relatively good job avoiding fouls in the four regular-season meeting with the Rockets averaging 23.8 against Oklahoma City, but avoiding foul trouble could be especially important in Game 1, and potentially difficult.

Lead official James Capers led the NBA in fouls called per 48 minutes. Official Sean Wright was fifth.

"You start getting fouls early in the quarters, now you start putting teams to the free throw line," Thunder coach Sean Wright said. "That's anybody. Being able to defend without fouling is really, really important. Once you get three fouls in the first few…