The "Hack-A-Shaq" rule has been placed in the limelight again after a game between the LA Clippers and Houston Rockets.
The rule was named after Shaquille O'Neal who was notoriously bad at shooting his free throws. Opposing teams intentionally fouled O'Neal to send him to the free throw line where he struggles, as opposed to receiving the ball in the low post where he is unstoppable.
Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder has been outspoken in his defense of the "hack" tactic. Bleacher Report shared Durant's opinion that "the victims of the hack-a strategy could render it moot by making their shots from the charity stripe."
KD's exact words were not so eloquent as shown in this Instagram post.
In the Clips-Rockets game, their starting centers DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard are today's version of Shaq in terms of free throw shooting. Opposing teams would hack them and it all came to a head when they played against each other as The Washington Post recalled, the game slows to an "unbearable crawl."
LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers admitted that he can't avoid using it. "I hate it," he said. "But we had to do it. It actually got us back into the game."
The Clippers were down 38-17 but when they sent Dwight Howard to the foul line, they were able to trim down the lead, not to mention take away the homecourt advantage.
"It's terrible for the fans. It took all of the energy out of the building," Rivers pointed out. "But we can do it, so teams are going to keep doing it."
The Houston Rockets themselves gave the Clippers a dose of their own medicine. "You use it as a weapon," Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "It's part of the rules. Personally, I'm hit or miss on it. I think it could be changed, but when it's at your disposal, if you have to use it, you use it."
Despite being a "victim" of the tactic, he is not vocal about a rule change to stop it.
"Just like any other rule that's a part of the game, you want to use it, you want to exploit it . . . and hopefully it's beneficial to you," Bickerstaff concluded.