Daily NBA Fix: Playing By the Rules To Break The Game
By Ben Gibson
The Minnesota Timberwolves loss to the Los Angeles Clippers wasn’t the biggest game on Monday, but the end-game was a reminder of the sometimes strange rules of the NBA.
The Timberwolves and Clippers fought into the last minutes of their game on Monday night as Los Angeles rallied late to take a three-point lead with 22 seconds left to go.
Then the Clippers decided to stop playing basketball.
Instead, of the game being played in any sort of rational way, Los Angeles began fouling Minnesota before they could get the ball down the court to try to cut the game with a 3-pointer. The strategy paid off in the form Clippers winning 110-106, but it certainly didn’t feel like basketball in the final 30 seconds.
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The plan is incredibly smart as it takes the best tool in any comeback situation, but it also seems … wrong.
The Clippers were choosing to foul to effectively take away the 3-point shot from the Timberwolves. One attempt when Ricky Rubio went into a shooting motion after being fouled was ruled not a shot because the NBA decided they didn’t want to make that a rule as it isn’t a shot from part of the floor you would normally take one from.
But how do you play that logic out when someone is purposely fouling them?
It just seems that allowing a team to foul someone for the express reason to take a 3-point opportunity is against the spirit of the game. You could are hack-a-whoever is similar, but, at least, that doesn’t expressly prevent a team from coming back.
For me, the rule should be written in a way when the intent is that obvious, the team should get the ball back like an off the ball foul at that time. The best reasoning I can explain for why this should happen is it just isn’t a “natural” basketball play. You wouldn’t foul anyone like that in another situation.
It just seems cheap, and other teams do it, but it is another reason why the Clippers are the most hated team in the league.
It wouldn’t be perfect, but it makes a lot more sense that letting a team foul a player in the backcourt to take away a chance at a comeback.
KG Turns Back Time
The Timberwolves lost, but I consider it a moral victory that we got to see Kevin Garnett throw down a dunk with great vengeance and furious anger over the suddenly out of place Blake Griffin.
KG is headed towards the end of his career but moments like this show he’s far from washed up.
Dirk vs. Kristaps
Every NBA player has seemingly said that Kobe was their idol growing up (mine was Jeff Foster), but for New York Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis, it was fellow European Dirk Nowitzki that he wanted to be.
The two squared off for the first time ever in New York and it was Porzingis that won the head-to-head battle with 28 points to Nowitzki’s 25, but it was Dallas that took the 104-97 victory.
It seems right now in the NBA we are watching the next chapter be written while some of the best are writing the final pages of their career. Kobe is writing the epilogue to a Hall of Fame career while Stephen Curry is redefining the way the NBA plays thanks to his insane shooting.
For fans right now we should be grateful that there are rookies and the NBA’s younger talent is coming to fill the gaps left by legends.
Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time
Old men can argue that the NBA isn’t what it used to be. That’s true. It is better than it has ever been.