Read what I wrote in the first post. It lets the Rockets score more, statistically, but also lets the OKC have to do less percentagewise to catch up because they have more posessions. From my example, it boosts the rockets points per possession from 1 to 1.14. But the Thunder points per possession that they need to catch up goes down from 2+ to 1.5. Basically they have twice as many possessions to make up a slightly larger gap. Of course, this obviously doesn't take account of everything in the game. But there is a statistical reason they would consider this.
It took their crowd out of the game, and allowed the Rockets to concentrate on defense and rebounding knowing they wouldn't need to spend 18-20 seconds on offense.
At best the strategy is marginal, and it works best if done only a couple of times where the guy misses right off the bat. He screwed the pooch when it got down to 6.
It's a complete joke of a strategy and I have no idea why the league allows it, since it's not basketball. No one comes to a game to watch bad free throw shooters take FTs for 5 minutes straight. All the league has to do is make intentional off-ball fouls be team-choice. So you can still foul to try to catchup in the last minute (a critical part of coming back when you are down two or three), but you can't use it to your advantage. Why penalize a team for getting into the penalty early? This, defensive three seconds, and the rule about having to inbound the ball when the 24-clock goes off (and the other team is already in transition) are the stupidest, most easily fixable situations in the rulebook and there's no reason not to change them but the league is too mired in bureaucracy to get anything done.
Brooks plays Derek Fisher so he obviously doesn't look at any stats when deciding what to do. He's one of those "go with your gut" guys I guess.
I thought they were going to stop when they got the score to 6. It's taking a pretty big gamble but it technically worked for OKC. Not a fan of it, considering OKC is suppose to be a legit contender, if you have to submit to something like this then you shouldnt even be in the conversation.
It's more pretty efficient possessions for the Rockets as well. I get the strategy and maybe if Asik misses 3 of the first 4 then they should continue with it hoping he tenses up, but he made 3 of 4 to start. I dunno...I thought it was pretty stupid to continue doing it. I also think for a guy like Asik that more FTs in a row is better for him. He has pretty solid form.
Let's just say Asik has a big heart unlike Howard. He beats the math, beats the huge pressure, beats the crowd, beats the sorry asses whom are wearing blues and whites tonight.
That's when should've stopped and made plays. This series is starting to show what a terrible coach brooks really is. Our defense was a lot better during that stretch was that if you re watch the stretch of hack asik to end game, some plays durant would just stand there and we didn't have to double anyone. Ie: the asik block.
I also thought it was a complete fail because it showed a total lack of confidence in their defense. They basically wasted a few minutes giving the Rockets what amounted to something around 55%+ shooting from the field. If not for that Harden turnover on the crazy shot it would have been a little worse.
Can someone tell me what happened there? I was watching in a bar and had no sound, but it sure looked like the guys were tapping Asik as they had done the last few possessions. Next thing I saw, ball inbounded to OKC. How do the refs allow that?
Not only that...but you put your team in the bonus. I mean once you are using KEVIN DURANT to foul Asik...that probably means it's time to stop.
They were getting ready to foul him, but then whoever it was from the Thunder backed off when Harden launched that shot. The refs could have called the foul, but it was pretty close.
Yeah Harden basically did the same thing as have Omer miss two free throws since that shot had no chance. So that is probably the only reason it even got down to 6. Imagine if Omer had made two free throws that possession. The strategy fails miserably.
Yeah, after a while you're just letting Asik practice his FT form. He started off 4 of 8, then went 5 of 6 which caused OKC to stop hacking.
It was an ill-advised shot by Harden. He expected OKC to foul Asik right away so he threw up a shot from past half court to try to get 3 free throws out of it. OKC ended up waiting a couple of seconds before fouling, though, so Harden ended up shooting it before they had a chance to foul.
But didn't they end up fouling Asik anyway? I could swear they showed him getting tapped. Even if it was after the shot it should have been a foul. Maybe they were showing footage from another possession though. It seemed really weird and yet another reason this stupid rule needs to go. On what planet is a FT contest and half-court heaves considered basketball?
