Houston's Clint Capela, left, taking the
blame for intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan in the first quarter of
Sunday's game. Jordan went to the free-throw line 28 times in the first
half.
Credit
Stephen Dunn/Getty Image
How many times does a strategy have to fail before it is abandoned?
Two games after Coach Kevin McHale of the Houston Rockets criticized the Los Angeles Clippers for intentionally fouling Dwight Howard — which backfired as the Rockets
won the game — he apparently decided that two could play at that game.
McHale had his team foul DeAndre Jordan so often in Game 4 on Sunday
night that Jordan, a poor-shooting center, went to the free-throw line
28 times in the first half and 34 times over all as part of the 40 fouls
the Rockets committed.
The
strategy did not work. The Rockets were blown out, 128-95, as Jordan
was 14 for 34 from the line and finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds.
Howard was in foul trouble early and was barely a factor. He was
ejected with nearly 10 minutes remaining when he collected his second
technical foul.
Houston's Dwight Howard fouling Blake Griffin
of the Clippers in Game 4 on Sunday. The Clippers defeated the Rockets,
128-95, and lead the series, 3-1.
“Personally, I don’t like it,” Harden told reporters after the game,
“but I guess different coaches have their different philosophies.”
The interesting aspect of the strategy is how rarely it seems to work.
Since
game logs became readily available in the 1963-64 season, a player has
had 25 or more free-throw attempts in a game 74 times, including
regular-season and postseason games. The rare occurrence is generally
brought on by desperation, with teams trying to erase large deficits.
While coaches will try anything to avoid losing, it is worth noting that
the team on the receiving end of the fouls has won 50 of the games,
about two-thirds.
Some
instances can be discounted, as there is no way a team was sending
great free-throw shooters like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley or Harden
to the line that many times on purpose. But even among the league’s
free-throw butchers, it has not proved particularly effective.
In
DeAndre Jordan’s case, he has had three games with 25 or more
free-throw attempts, and his team has won all three. Similarly, Howard
has had it happen three times, and his team won all three as well.
Shaquille
O’Neal, who had to deal with intentional fouls so often that the
generic term for the practice is Hack-a-Shaq, was given 25 or more
free-throw attempts in a game five times and his teams were 4-1, with
O’Neal hitting more than 50 percent in three of the games.
Wilt
Chamberlain was one player against whom the strategy was, perhaps,
effective. That one-man statistical oddity is the outlier in so many
statistics that it often seems better to discount him entirely. But when
teams decided to put him to the line over and over again, it worked
nearly as often as it did not: His teams were 5-4.
But
one of the nine games proved that even when this strategy seems to be
working, it is not foolproof. On Dec. 12, 1967, the Seattle SuperSonics
went after Chamberlain and sent him to the line 25 times. In a
particularly bad performance, Chamberlain made only six free throws,
with his 24 percent mark the worst among players with 25 or more
attempts. That did not stop Philadelphia from winning, 118-107. Seattle
shut down Chamberlain, but Hal Greer torched the SuperSonics for 38
points.
There
is no question that DeAndre Jordan and Howard are terrible shooters
from the line and that sending them there a lot can be effective. But it
seems there is a limit to how effective the strategy can be when things
get so out of hand.
And
with both coaches in this series having tried the strategy and failed,
perhaps when they face off in Game 5 on Tuesday, the contest can involve
more basketball and fewer free throws.
Cr : Nytimes
