It's pretty amazing to me how well Harden is scoring with roberson all over his grill, that dude's arms are like longer than his legs wtf.
If it wasn't for Shaq, I wonder if the Hack-a strategy would even exist. The rules of the league were much different then, and Shaq, once he had the ball, was able to just push his way into the post close off for a short hook, layup, or dunk. The rules are much different now and Shaq's playstyle probably wouldn't work without getting an offensive foul most of the times. Did you watch our games with Dwight? Remember in the Playoffs when Portland when Hack-a-Howard and he would go on a run of like 1 for 6 and totally kill our momentum and let them back in the game? Was it always effective? No. Sure, if the player can go at least 50% consistently then the Hack strategy isn't effective. And there were sometimes when a team would try to Hack Dwight and he would make them pay while others he would miss over and over. Shaq at first and then Dwight later were like the sole reasons that the Hack a strategy exists. Yes, they made teams pay sometimes. But yes they also allowed teams back in the game just as many times. Shaq for his career shot 52.7% from FT. He has the record for most FT attempts in a game without making one at 11 (at least that used to be a record, not sure if it still is)- you cannot use him as an example and then say 'just make your FTs'
Yeah same here, while you have to give credit to Roberson, i think he's probably one of the 3/4 guys who guards better Harden, James still scored without big problems in this series, yesterday he was clearly off but that's probably more about his ankle. Hack was more to stop them scoring rather than to get "the Harden stopper" out, no question.
Look at your statements that I bolded: 1. Sure if the player can go at least 50% consistently then the Hack strategy isn't effective 2. Shaq for his career shot 52.7% from FT So how can you argue you can't use him as an example? Shaq's has a career average of 52.7%, meaning if you go and have a match against him he will shoot fts at that rate most of the time. Shaq doesn't just make his opponent pay "sometimes", he makes his opponent pay for Hack a Shaq MOST OF THE TIME, because he shoots 50% fts on average which has been proven to shut down the hack a shaq strategy. So what if he has the record for most missed fts in a game? That's just one game! What's more likely to happen, Shaq will miss 11 fts in a row or he will shoot his career average of 50%? This actually shows you can make Shaq the BEST EXAMPLE, because hack a shaq limited him so much he had 4 rings and 1 MVP his career, that's way more success than 99% of NBA players who ever played the game. If that's called limiting a player, I want to see what Shaq would have done if hack a shaq hadn't "limited" his career. I remember one series where Popovich used hack a shaq to limit shaq, but apparently he couldn't replicate it cause Shaq owned the Spurs asses to a 3 peat. I think you're just cherry picking certain instances that you remember like when Dwight messed up in the series in Portland. But if you look at the numbers (which don't have human bias) it shows that Dwight for his career wasn't really all that limited by Hack a Dwight, hence why he has a Finals, ECF and WCF appearances under his belt. He may not have a ring, but he's also a lot more successful than majority of NBA players so its not like Hack a Dwight crippled his career. That's why I have to say make your fts, because looking at Shaq and Dwight they can hit 50% fts for their career so if big guys like them can do that then someone like Roberson has no excuse for shooting 12% or whatever pathetic ft percentage he is at. The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say, critics of the Hack an X like JVG were crying about the "Hackapocalypse" where every game would be boring AF as teams result to hacking big men left and right. Well where is it? Its not being employed any more except against total dumbasses like Roberson or De Andre Jordan or Rondo (but he's on a sucky team so nobody gives AF). Most teams who tried to do hack a X against normal big men ended up losing the game because your average big man can hit fts at 50% or better. So if you're someone who hits fts at a worse clip than Dwight or Shaq then honestly the problem isn't the rules, the problem is you and your sucky ability to hit fts.
D'Antoni finally decided to engage himself in the series and made his first coaching move of the playoffs. Fouling Roberson was a good strategy. He should continue this if it's close in the 4th quarter again in Game 5 (hopefully not)
Fouling Roberson was obviously the right strategy. So much so that the one time they were too slow to do it, it blew up in their face with Russ getting fouled on a three. That aside, I'd like to see MDA make another adjustment first. And that's get Roberson off Harden before he gets the ball by, I don't know, running off a low post, at the block pick or two?? Don't get me wrong, I don't want Harden being Klay Thompson out there. I'm just talking about a pick or two occasionally to get Roberson switched earlier. There's no reason it should be so hard for the Rockets to be getting the defense to switch on these pick and rolls. granted, they are getting switches, just it takes a ton of effort. And for some reason even when Adams is on the floor, they are still choosing to use Ryno or Ariza to get the switch, when Gibson is defending them. Gibson, late foul aside, has done a pretty decent job on the switch. Adams can't. Harden vs. Adams is the matchup I want to see. Maybe it's Clint being so bad...
True story: talked to Roberson outside of a club in San Marcos last July 4th weekend. Asked him if KD was going to stay and he seemed legit confident that he was coming back to OKC. Said something along the lines of "Oh yeah he's coming back and we're gonna win it all" lol. Then the next morning I woke up hungover and pissed to the KD news. Pretty cool and humble guy. Not surprising he is staying in OKC, seemed to love it there. Haven't met many pro athletes so I sorta root for the guy. Almost felt bad for him when we were sending him to the line, almost.. great defender though!
