Only thing that worries me is that I feel Smith will be the main defender for Dirk. Howard isn't mobile enough (plus we'd still need a rim protector in the paint) Ariza's too small, and Jones is too inexperienced (but he seems improved this season on D so maybe he steps up). I feel like it might be a big hit to take Smith out of late in the game due to free throws if nobody else can hold Dirk.
2 things we can do: 1. Hack A Rando back. He is 41% free throw shooter. 2. Depending on when they do it to us and the score difference, try hard to make the first one and purposely miss the second and try hard to grab the rebound and maybe hit a 3 pointer. That could be a 4 point position. That will teach them not to try it often.
Rockets went small against the Mavs late in the last game they played with Harden guarding Nowitzi. Seemed to work pretty well as Dirk isn't strong enough to bulldoze Harden, not fast enough to go around him, and the a Rockets ran away with the game as Dallas couldn't keep up. With Howard back full time, the option to go small with Harden guarding Dirk and Dwight backing him up should be even more advantageous.
Imagine if both teams are hacking at the same time (we would be hacking Rondo). Has this ever happened before? What an awful display of basketball that would be.
It would be an awful display of basketball. But in doing so it may quell the popularity of the theory and force the nba to put an end to it.
I think the key here is to be very aggressive on offense early and often, and draw fouls. Get their "main guys" into some sort of foul trouble so when opposing coaches need to do the "Hack - a - Player" they might have to resort into putting their "end of bench" guys in to avoid getting their main guys in foul trouble. I think that will neutralize the "hack-a-player" strategy because then the opposing team will have to play offense with their worst players. If they are taking away our offense, take away theirs! If the Mavericks play "Hack-a-Player", I would much rather play defense on: Felton JJ Barea Jefferson Aminu Charlie V than: Rondo / Harris Ellis Parsons Dirk Amare/Chandler Mavericks aren't a great defensive team. Not very fundamental in their defensive approach and not great at getting back on defense. Exploit that for easy shots or fouls! Thoughts?
So your plan involves trying hard to make free throws and getting 4 point plays. Why didn't anyone else think of that?!?!?
If I include Terrence Jones, yes. I was only including Dwight, Smith, Dorsey, and Capela. Unless the Rockets go really small, I expect at least one of those 4 will be on the floor the entire series. Even in this scenario, you still will need either Dwight or Smith on the floor at all times. The intentional fouling would be against them, not Jones.
Question: can they walk to the front court out of sideline? I remember the opponent cannot foul the player off court.
We didn't lose because of the FT shooting per se. But it did take the ball out of Harden's hand and pretty much flush our whole offense down the toilet. The hacking tactic is not just about the simple point-per-possession statistic game. It's mostly about preventing the team from playing good offense and throwing their rhythm out of sync when the hacking stops. But you need bad FT shooters for it to work, obviously, and the Rockets have plenty of them.
....which is why I brought it down to Dwight and Smith. That's where we are most likely headed. So, if they can maintain around 52% we'll be okay as far as the free throws go. But if one of them craters to 40% we're in trouble. And if Dorsey/Capela is on the court when we are in the bonus when the game is undecided then we were in trouble before they got on the court with either foul count or injury or ineffective defense/rebounding from one of the 3 primary bigs. (Wished I felt differently but I think this is where we're headed in the second round or the Conference Finals if we manage to get there. I think the ultimate undoing will be a defensive/rebounding breakdown brought on by too much defensive pressure on our big man rotation or injury to Dwight/Harden which limits their effectiveness.)
I'm not sure if I buy this Why couldn't we just resume our offense after they stopped? It's our fault if we couldn't get back into "rhythm", I think that's just an excuse. There's no reason we couldn't
Question: If you inbound the ball, how long can you remain out of bounds BEFORE they blow a whistle on you? Just curious. ....... ....... .......
Whoever is getting hacked should run around the court, trying to avoid getting fouled. As if he was in a game of tag. Can you imagine how ridiculous that would look and how quickly the league would step in to stop this crap?
GTFO. Seriously, no hack a thon and we would've beat them handily. Pop did it early, cause he saw us crushing them. We came out aggressive.
Free throws are one thing that you just cannot improve in a short term period Either you are a good FT shooter coming into the league, average one or a bad one.... Then you might improve a tad
Because I am more intelligent than most. But seriously , like I said do it on occasions and keep them guessing. If you have 50% chance to make the second free throw you might as well miss it on purpose and try to grab the rebound. Do you have a better suggestion ?
I can pretty much guarantee you that they already are & have been. I'm pretty much it's a mental thing for them, besides Joey he just sucks!
