Desperate for a win? Like they're in danger of falling out of the playoffs or something? LOL. Pops isn't desperate for wins. Pops just wants to win all the time. That's why he's in business, to win basketball games. Pops did what any smart coach should have done to do his job correctly. Anything less and he shouldn't be in the business.
There is a bodybuilder Mr olimpia who has more muscle mass then anybody in the nba ever who can hit free throws easy also 3 pointers...lame poor exuse..He actually shoots around with nba teams his name his Phil heath
If the league really wanted to get rid of this kind of play immediately, I think they could do so without a rule change. Most of these off the ball fouls are really light, so they could just tell the refs to ignore intentional fouls away from the ball unless they are actually related to the play (i.e., while fighting for position) or until they become hard enough to warrant a flagrant 1 call. The league changes its emphasis on certain calls all the time, this wouldn't be much different.
Just throwing another idea out there: give the team the option of shooting free throws or inbounding the ball again (perhaps from full court). Opting for the inbound is almost a minor penalty for avoiding free throws, which I think it should. Of course I think there could be another can of worms but I'd be curious to see it played out.
The game never intended for players to intentionally foul away from the ball. It should be 2 shots and the ball for all intentional fouls.
Yes, let's slow the game down even more as refs confer to both agree on their current definition of "intentional" and decide via replay whether or not said foul was indeed intentional and had nothing substantial to do with the play. Brilliant idea, doubt it'll happen in this flop-happy, ticky-tack Euro-style league we've seen over the last 10 years.
This isn't just about the Rockets -- I've been watching this nonsense for over a decade now and it's never going to stop unless hacking players becomes a flagrant foul.
I know we are a horrendous FT shooting team and it would benefit the Rockets if the rule gets changed, but that aside, it MUST be changed. Nobody paid money to get into Toyota Center to watch Smoove shoot FTs all night. Nobody tuned into the San Antonio Spurs broadcast to watch Smoove shoot FTs all night. It's horrendous for the game and must stop. I really want a Rockets vs Clippers playoff game where DeAndre shoots 50 FTs and Smoove or Dwight do the same. Game would take 5 hours and we wold never ever have to see it again in our lifetime, that's my goal.
they aren't going to change the game up like that, because the rockets don't have good foul shooters. that's like saying you can't shoot more than 10 3 pointers against the grizzlies because it's unfair to the grizz. the fact of the matter is that the game slows in the fourth quarter no matter hack-a-smith or not. also the spurs might have won that game even easier if they had not sent smith to the line.
Its the absolute worst part of the game its a gimmick and a cop out. Any coach that uses it should be ashamed of themselves, it is bush league
same thing could be said for shooting 40 3 pointers a night. btw, how many 3s do the rockets shoot a night again? make your free throws or get players than can make them. giving a player free throws for a foul is plenty enough of a disadvantage to the other team. hell, what's next, let's do away with free throws altogether and give the guy 2 points for enough foul? so the game doesn't slow down.
I don't think it's good for the game, but I also don't think it's some crisis or "bush league" tactic. Pro players should be able to make free throws. If the rule changes, cool, but I have a hard time complaining about a coach exploiting a team's weaknesses, especially when it's so fixable and easy. At the same time, Adam Silver probably will do something about it. People don't pay tons of money to watch free throw contests.
I believe it should be modified too, otherwise these intentional fouls can really slow down the game and make it terrible. If other teams start to use it--and they will because the Rockets aren't the only team with terrible FT shooters--the league will notice because it damages the marketability of the game. Intentional fouling off-ball like this should be awarded one FT and the ball, just like many here have said. Intentional as in grabbing a certain player and looking at the ref and basically saying "blow the whistle!" It's bogus. I'm also speaking as a very frustrated fan of Houston here.
Maybe we should get rid of the intentional fouls to stop the clock tactic near the end of the game too. It's pretty boring too, and most of the times it doesn't work because the other team just makes the FTs. We should also get rid of intentional fouls to prevent the other teams from shooting a 3pt shot to tie the game. Okay, I know. These are ways to manage the clock in order to catch up at the end, not the same as hack-a-whoever. Wait, maybe the current rule should be flipped around. Hacking should be allowed during the last 2 minutes of the game and outlawed any other time. So it can be used for catching up from behind toward the end of the game, rather than just a tactic to limit the other team's offense.
Poor analogy. Taking 3's is a legitimate basketball play. I am not opposed to the NBA extending the 3 point line or amending rules. But you can't equivocate the use of a rule loophole with an actual basketball play. As I ranted in another thread, the use of the hack enables the defense to dictate how an offensive team spends a possession via external means. That's not good for any sport. And it's certainly not like shooting a three pointer.
The easiest solution to this is to simply not blow the whistle. Have the refs judge intent, and if it's an intentional touch foul that otherwise doesn't affect the flow of the game, then don't call it. If they foul off ball in an excessive manner then you call a flagrant foul. Aside from that, it needs to be an on ball foul. Seriously, hack a whoever goes against the spirit of the game. You don't see it in the gym, on the playground, or even in college. It is a gimmick exploitation of the rules permitted only by the inflated efficiencies seen in pro ball. It needs to be removed from the game.
There is absolutely no difference. The 3 point shot rewards teams/players for being able to shoot behind a line with an extra point, and it punishes teams that cannot shoot that shot well enough to make it worthwhile to shoot it. Foul shooting rewards teams that can shoot it well and punishes teams that can't. You seem like you want to take foul shooting out of the game because your team can't shoot it well. What if the grizzlies bellyached about the 3 point shot being used too much in games and so they want the nba to move the 3 point line back further to discourage so many 3 point shots. I don't see the difference.
