Late FT weirdness helps Clippers to OT win over Pistons
The rampant intentional fouling of DeAndre Jordan affects virtually every game that the Los Angeles Clippers play, whether in terms of late-game substitution patterns or deeper issues such as the quality of the team’s rim protection. Yet opponents’ habits have rubbed off on the Clippers, to the point where they regularly intentionally foul bad free-throw shooters in new and interesting ways. They’re obviously paying attention to what works and what doesn’t work against Jordan.
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One such gambit helped the Clippers force overtime in Monday night’s road game against the Detroit Pistons. As Jamal Crawford made a free throw to make the score 93-91 Pistons with 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, J.J. Redick jumped on the back of Andre Drummond during the rebound to commit what must technically be called a loose-ball foul rather than an away-from-the-play foul, which gives the aggrieved party two shots and the ball in the final two minutes. Take a look at the goofy scene here:
Redick’s attempt to get a piggy-back ride sent a mere 36.6 percent foul-shooter to the line in a key moment. Drummond out-performed his average with a split of his two shots, but Redick came back at the other end with this three-pointer to tie the score at 94-94:
Reggie Jackson held the ball for the last possession of regulation and missed a decent look of a mid-range jumper in the final second to send the game to overtime. The extra period’s margin stayed within two points until Jamal Crawford nailed a tie-breaking three-pointer with 12 seconds left to give the Clippers a 105-102 lead. Austin Rivers fouled Jackson on the next possession to avoid giving up a tying three, and the Pistons point guard made his first free throw to move to 14-of-15 from the line on the night.
That’s when everything got really weird. Doc Rivers subbed out Jordan to avoid a ploy similar to the one his team had used with Drummond at the end of regulation. That move made the Clippers vulnerable to offensive rebounds, though, and Jackson missed his second free throw intentionally to give Detroit a chance at a game-tying putback. It worked — Drummond grabbed the board and tried a lay-up. It did not go in. And then the scenario repeated a few times:
The sequence featured four offensive rebounds (the last credited as a team rebound), three missed shots (including Jackson’s ill-advised jumper with several seconds remaining, and plenty of heartbreak for the Pistons as the buzzer sounded on the Clippers’ 105-103 win.
After the game, though, the focus was still on Redick’s climb of Mount Drummond. He explained the foul to the media:
Any team with a notably poor free-throw shooter should probably know the laws of late-game fouling, but it’s likely that the Pistons didn’t know this foul was legal because it probably shouldn’t be. The Clippers exploited a loophole here — Redick did not foul Drummond as part of a normal basketball play and pretty clearly flouted the spirit of the rule. The call was correct, but not necessarily right.
It’s a shame that the focus is on this particular play by Redick, because he played quite well overall with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting to supplement 34 from Blake Griffin. Jackson was excellent for Detroit, too,, with 34 of his own on 9-of-18 shooting from the field with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
