I'd love to have some statistics, but it seems like if the team is up or down starting that hack a whoever stuff doesn't help the team that does it. Anyone have a link or know of some of the statistics that back up or denounce what I see during the games. Even though it may have seemed like Pop doing it with the Spurs worked a bit, everyone else that's done it seemed to mess up their own flow more than anything else.
I think even when Pop did it, net-net we reduced the lead they had over the period they were doing. One could argue perhaps we would have reduced the lead even more but would be impossible to prove. If you are up 9 and after hacking for 5 minutes you are only up 6 I don't think the hacking strategy was that effective. Unless you are trying to run out the clock but that is so hard to do in basketball.
A few factors: it takes away transition buckets for yourself and it takes away any possibility of the other offense turning it over or otherwise failing to score.
I'm not sure it was particularly effective for Pop either, especially in the playoffs. I know for sure there was one game where he basically did exactly what McHale did last night -- used it when they were up, and killed their own momentum. I'm not really convinced it's a worthwhile strategy in most scenarios, but damn if it isn't stressful.
When we played SA here at TC (before the Playoffs started), Pops started hacking even though SA was up double digits and, to me, that was the real reason it was just a 1-point final margin. Hacking works in certain moments, but the 2 times we did it in this series, definitely backfired on us.
I sort of wish that there was a way to track it... Maybe by game flow and plus/minus? Figure out how often it resulted in an increased lead. I'm sure there is someone on the Rockets staff tracking it lol I'm just not smart enough or getting paid to do it. Can you think of a clear cut example where it did work in the NBA? Especially after they made the 2 minute rule?
Deandre Jordan seems to shoot worse free throw wise on the road. Just gotta do it in beneficial situations.
