OK...I mean I'm not going to bother arguing against a generic argument of something that happens "every game." I don't agree that it does and if your best example is a playoff series from 20+ years ago, it's kind of a ridiculous starting point as the league has changed a lot since then.

I do think the NBA has taken steps to reduce the number of fouls and free-throws. They just implemented new rules to target offensive players who were jumping into defenders to initiate contact. And you can see the number of FTs per game is going down in recent seasons, especially when compared to the 2000s.