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Los Angeles Clippers Rise Above Hack-A-Jordan Again, Ready To Drop Rockets

By Andrew C. Fisher

May 10, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) shoots a free throw against Houston Rockets in game three of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
May 10, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) shoots a free throw against Houston Rockets in game three of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The “Hack-A-Whoever” strategy figured to be a part of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. With DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers converting just a measly 39 percent of his attempts from the line during the regular season, it would only make sense to foul him in certain situations. But few people saw the Hack-a-Jordan exploding the way it has thus far this postseason.

Hack-a-Jordan was on display for the world to see Sunday night in Game 4 of the Clippers’ semifinal series against the Houston Rockets. Kevin McHale applied the widely hated strategy in the first half to the Nth degree, sending Jordan to the line 28 times. The ridiculous amount of free throw attempts is a new NBA record for one half (the previous mark was held by Shaquille O’Neal — 27).

Jordan somewhat fueled support for the strategy by making only 14 of his 34 total attempts, but Los Angeles still took a six-point lead into halftime and ended up winning comfortably by 33 with hot shooting from the field (49 percent).

Overall, while it may make some sense to use the hack strategy with poor foul shooters at some points in a game, it doesn’t seem to be a strategy to use throughout a game. For starters, there are only so many fouls a team can use up. Secondly, at least when used against the Clippers, hacking does not equal winning. L.A. is now 19-2 in games where the Hack-A-Jordan is used.

So not only is hacking ineffective, it’s boring as all get out. I think I speak for the majority of hoops fans when I say that a rule preventing this horrible strategy can’t be put into place soon enough. Thankfully, you can bet that Adam Silver won’t waste any time in the offseason making it happen. He’s not about to have any more of his playoff games ruined by slow-paced, foul-heavy basketball (the first half of Game 4 took 84 minutes in real time).

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As far as the Clippers are concerned the rest of the way in this series, you might as well go ahead and punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals. After all of these years, 45 to be exact, the franchise is finally going to have a chance to play its way into the championship round.

I just don’t see a scenario where Houston comes back from down 1-3. They frankly appear overmatched at this point by a Clippers team that seems to have found itself after dethroning the champs in arguably the greatest first round series of all time.

Los Angeles is locked in with at least seven players contributing significantly on a nightly basis right now. Austin Rivers has become another much-needed scorer off the bench (18.5 PPG in last two games), J.J. Redick is shooting the lights out from downtown (69 percent in last two games) and Blake Griffin is playing the best basketball of his career.

The Clippers are clicking on all cylinders right now, and they don’t even have a 100 percent Chris Paul, a scary thought for the rest of the league.

Given Paul’s hamstring health, the best case scenario for Los Angeles moving forward is a victory in Game 5. Not only will it keep the team’s crazy momentum going, it will also give Paul the maximum amount of time to heal up before his first ever conference finals appearance.

Next: Blake Griffin No. 1 Power Forward?

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