http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...kshaq0425.html
Hack-a-Shaq just part of game
Doug Haller
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2008 12:00 AM
Throughout his coaching career, both domestically and internationally, Mike D'Antoni said he never has ordered an intentional foul in the Hack-a-Shaq spirit. But that doesn't mean he disagrees with the tactic.
"Hey, do whatever you got to do to win," the Suns coach said.
Intentionally fouling a poor free-throw shooter to stop the clock or cut into a lead is nothing new in postseason basketball. Shaquille O'Neal has dealt with it for years, teams gambling that he'll miss one or both so they can cash in on the offensive end.
But so far in this best-of-seven series, the Spurs have employed the strategy to help disrupt the Suns' rhythm as well as try to get O'Neal out of the game.Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has ordered intentional fouls late in the first half of each game. In Game 2, the Spurs fouled O'Neal about 50 feet from the basket - even though San Antonio led by six in the third quarter.
Strange? Not to O'Neal. "I've seen it before by coward Don Nelson, who started it," he said after Thursday's practice.
The strategy falls under the gamesmanship umbrella. That is, methods that the league doesn't outlaw, but methods that others might consider questionable. Former Suns coach John MacLeod called Hack-a-Shaq a "fair tactic," but he also acknowledged that its place in the game falls into a "gray area."
In its simplest form, the practice is a matter of preference. The Spurs are choosing to gamble with O'Neal's 50.3 percent foul shooting rather than risk a Steve Nash jump shot or Amaré Stoudemire dunk. In this sense, the tactic is no different from baseball's intentional walk. After all, why pitch to a .275 hitter with the tying run on second if a .187 hitter waits on deck?
But there's an element about this that irritates purists, including those ordering the fouls.
Popovich himself downplayed the tactic's success after Game 1 and exaggerated its failure in Game 2, saying O'Neal "made the strategy look really stupid."
In the 2004 Western Conference finals, then-Minnesota coach Flip Saunders told reporters that intentionally fouling O'Neal in such a manner wasn't his style, but he felt he had no choice.
"When I was a college coach, in my office I had a saying and I had a dinosaur," Saunders said. "It said, 'Adapt or Die.' So if I have to adapt in order not to die, I'm going to adapt."
D'Antoni said Thursday that the Suns should take the strategy as a compliment. The Spurs didn't think they could stop Phoenix in the half court so they waved the "white flag a little" he said.
But that hasn't always been the case. The Suns were struggling in the third quarter of Game 2. They had missed 11 of 14 attempts. The Spurs were on a 19-6 run, leading 73-67 when Ime Udoka wrapped up O'Neal near midcourt. Another foul and possession later, the Suns prevented an intentional foul with quick ball movement, but even as Leandro Barbosa attempted a layup, O'Neal was bolting in the backcourt from Brent Barry, trying to avoid a foul.
"A little bit," Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said when asked whether he was surprised the Spurs chose to foul in that situation. "Pop is a guy who takes great pride in defense more than anything . . . (But) there's a method to the madness. It's not just, 'Well, let's try this.' It's 'All right, let's disrupt the Suns' flow a little bit.' "
If San Antonio uses the strategy in Game 3, D'Antoni said he would wait and see how O'Neal fares.
If his center makes 5 of 6 like he did after Game 2's intentional fouls, O'Neal likely will stay in the game. If not, D'Antoni said the Suns have other options.
Either way, O'Neal is ready.
"It's nothing that I'm scared of," O'Neal said. "I just want to go to the line and make them. That's always been my Achilles' heel.
"They always say if you want to win championships, you got to step to the line and hit them. Luckily, I've been doing it come playoff time, so we'll be all right."
Good article, but Shaq missed three out of four AFTER the intentional fouls and the Suns as a team missed a bunch of free throws in the 2nd half.
This "We are Better Even than the Spurs Though we are Down 0-2" mantra will hopefully end when the suns (hopefully) get eliminated this year. It's getting old.
Shaq "manned up" by making his Hack-a-Shaq fouls. But what's stupid is that he did so at the expense of the rest of his own team. As far as the Suns' offense in game 2's third period, it was "all about Shaq." Didn't amount to anything because the rest of the team was taken entirely out of its rhythm. Even Nash said he had "no explanation" for the lapse.
I mean, 11 points in a quarter? For the Suns?
What was clear to me was that while Shaq was making his foul shots, the rest of the team ended up with absolutely no momentum. So will we see more Hack-a-Shaq in this series? I wouldn't be surprised. Not only does it work in knocking the Suns completely out of rhythm, the chances are still barely 50/50 that Shaq will even make his shots!
Well, going by the stats, the Suns shoot something like 50% from the field. Shaq at the line is 25% chance of getting 2, so it cuts the Suns pts/posession in half. It's an effective way of cutting down the Suns scoring, besides the benefit of knocking them out of rhythym. It should probably be used if the Suns go on a tear of hitting every shot they take.
However, Pop using it in gm 2 with Barbosa running the offense was just stupid. I'd rather take my chances with Barbosa trying to get the offense going than Shaq on the line.
Strange? Not to O'Neal. "I've seen it before by coward Don Nelson, who started it," he said after Thursday's practice.Is he indirectly calling Pop that for using the same strategy?
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