ALL fouls should be 1+ the ball. There should be no way possible to use a foul to your advantage. A foul is a punishment. Not a strategy.
They intentionally foul the ball handler, not whoever is the worst shooter on the team that happens to be thirty feet from the ball at the time. If you intentionally foul away from the ball it should be two shots plus the ball. I get the whole make your free throws thing but the NBA is supposed to be entertainment as well and people don't want to pay money to watch a parade to the line on every possession.
If Dwight can continue to hit at around 60%+ mark! it will help us in a few ways. 1. Teams get players in foul trouble quicker. 2. We get in the bonus quicker. 3. Once in the bonus, teams have to adjust their defence & back off slightly. 4. We will win more games than we lose. I would love Dwight to hit at least the 70%, or close to it! because 14/20 is better than 12/20. I glad we got the win today, and I hope that Dwight can keep up his good form at the line.
Dwight during Hack-A-Howard <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3itm_R-qEEY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As long as he can split the pair of free throws AT LEAST every time he's hacked. I wouldn't mind them doing this. But remember, shooting so many free throws may help him build a rhythm and that's when they'll stop.
Simply from mathematics, Howard will still be hacked. See these figures: 1. Gathered after the Raptor's game - Rockets on average score 104.2 points per 100 possessions, rank sixth in the NBA in offensive rating. That's slightly more than 1 point per possession. 2. Howard's free-throw %, according to one NYT report after Knicks' game : 49%. that translates into slightly less than 1 point per possession. You can use calculator to find out exact decimal point. The truth is: the opponent team is mathematically better off in sending Howard to the free-throw line. Of course, in a hackaHoward situation, what they really go for is a gamble - hoping the big guys to miss both attempts. Applying the same logic, every teams should hack Jordan when playing LAClippers. Because Jordan's free-throw % is more pathetic, and Clippers I am sure, has a higher offensive rating that the Rockets.
He's going to have to prove he can knock down free throws on a regular basis before teams will stop testing him.
I do wish they would make a rule change to remove the hack-a-player without the ball aspect. It's brutal to watch and sucks all of the entertainment out of the game. Even though they want to win, the ultimate job of the NBA is to entertain the fans. If you have fans turning the game off, leaving the arena, falling asleep, etc. because the final 5 minutes are absolutely brutal then you need to address it. Also, I realize Howard shouldn't be rewarded for being a bad foul shooter, but at the same time I don't think a team should be able to get rewarded for being worse the entire game but basically keeping the other team from having a real possession for 3 minutes.
We did it against Lakers and Howard in the game when Greg Smith scored 21. Won the game. As long as there is MDAntoni this strategy is going to be used
I don't believe they should even have that 2 minute rule. I thought it is kind of ridiculous they made it for shaq. All players have weaknesses why change the rules to eliminate that weakness. The coach has the option of taking the player off the floor. If shaq or dwight suck at FTs then they need to figure out how to get better.
I think intentional fouls for someone who does not have the ball or not in the play setting a pick, should result in a delay of game. They slow the game down way more than touching the ball after it goes through the hoop. In this case a team would get three free throws two for the foul and one for delay of game and would be able to have their best FT shooter take the technical foul shot.
i agree totally , for people who complained about it, deal with it, we knew this will be our problem when we signed Howard , no one complained when we hacked him to victory against Lakers last season. i got no problem people using this strategy , either McHale needs to adjust or Howard needs to improve his FT
As long as he makes 55% of them, regardless of what it may look like from the outside, it is not really a successful strategy. The reason it worked earlier in the year is because he was making 50% of them and the other team was scoring every time down the court. Miami has the best offensive efficiency in the league at 110 points per 100 possessions. 55% free throws will give you the same.
Best way to fix the problem is whoever has the ball at the time of an intentional foul away from the ball gets the 2 free throws. That way you are not overpowering the situation. Because 2 shots and possession is a bit much
It's not the end. The biggest mistake was the Nuggets went to it way too early, giving Dwight enough time to get into a rhythm. Probably a better strategy would be to go to hacking with less than 4 minutes remaining.
I suspect we will see hack-a-Dwight off and on all year long. First I don't believe that Howard is magically going to become a 60% free throw shooter, which is what is needed to do away with the strategy. When you start dipping below 50% is when you start seeing the strategy pick up steam. The issue I have with it from the Rockets perspective is that we are a bad defensive team. As a result getting a point per possession is probably not going to be enough for us, especially if he is hitting 40-45%. If we were a bad offensive team with an elite defense I doubt you would see Dwight sent to the line. As we are currently assembled, it is a smart counter to the Rockets in some situations.
I'm somewhat curious if the hack strategy will start impacting the advertising revenue, usually the last 5 minutes would be the highest value, but if the increased frequency starts to look like it threatens the next tv rights deal, you can bet your ass it will be addressed.
