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San Antonio Spurs: 4 First Round Questions

By Andrew Snyder

Jan 31, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots the ball against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 31, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots the ball against the Los Angeles Clippers during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
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February 19, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) moves to the basket against the defense of San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) and guard Danny Green (14) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
February 19, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) moves to the basket against the defense of San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) and guard Danny Green (14) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Will Gregg Popovich Hack-A-DeAndre?

Gregg Popovich’s new favorite strategy late in quarters is to identify poor free-throw shooters and mercilessly foul them on every possession, counting on them to miss free-throws. Sometimes this has worked, sometimes it hasn’t.

Wednesday night against the Pelicans he tried this with Omer Asik. Asik went 3-for-8 from the line leading to Monty Williams removing him from the game. Though he shot under 50 percent from the free-throw line, the Spurs lost so we can chalk that one up as a failure.

In a 104-103 victory over the Houston Rockets, Pop unveiled this strategy once again. This time it was against Josh Smith.  Smith shot 12-for-26 from the line and the Spurs won. Advantage Popovich.

Of course, this strategy is truly made for DeAndre Jordan. For all his strong attributes as a basketball player, free throw shooting is certainly not one of them. Jordan finished the regular season shooting a frosty 39.7 percent from the line, down from his 41.7 percent career average.

The last time the Spurs employed this little trick against him, Jordan went 10-for-28 from the free-throw line, but the Spurs lost 119-115.

So as you can see, this strategy does not have foolproof results. Sometimes it works, sometimes it causes the opposing coach to remove the struggling player, and sometimes it doesn’t work at all.

It is no fun to watch as an observer, but Gregg Popovich’s only duty is to do whatever it takes for the Spurs to come out on top. Will we see any hack-a-DeAndre this series? I’m not sure to what degree it will be unleashed, but you can bet it will be there.

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