Looking for any advantage over the Thunder in Game 4 of their first-round series on Sunday, the Houston Rockets repeatedly intentionally fouled Andre Roberson in the fourth quarter. Roberson shot a dismal 42.3 percent from the free-throw line during the regular season and he had missed all five of his free-throws in the first first three games of the series.
Roberson went 2-of-8 from the line during the Rockets' intentional fouling stretch and his only two makes, were cheered loudly by Thunder fans:
Yet while the Thunder fans were happy to see Roberson make his free-throws, NBA fans everywhere else were angry with the quality of play with the game all of sudden becoming stilted thanks to the Hack-A-Shaq strategy by the Rockets:
How can anyone be this bad at free throws
— Andrew Kennedy (@akennedy41) April 23, 2017
Billy D may cost okc a shot at series by sticking with Roberson here
— sam esfandiari (@samesfandiari) April 23, 2017
So happy this stopped being a fun basketball game so kids know they should practice their free throws
— Noam Schiller (@noamschiller) April 23, 2017
Why not take Roberson out? They had a chance at the free-throw line
— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) April 23, 2017
This series should be so fun and this is sucking the life out of it.
— Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) April 23, 2017
Oh good. Committing a violation in order to gain an advantage is still allowed in the NBA.
— Jared Wade (@Jared_Wade) April 23, 2017
Just what this well-played game needed: hack-a-Roberson followed by rip-through 2.0.
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) April 23, 2017
This isn’t fun.
— Lindsay Mills (@lindsaymills) April 23, 2017
Sitting around on a Sunday afternoon watching a free throw shooting contest.
— Tom Ziller (@teamziller) April 23, 2017
Roberson is 2/12 from the line….even DeAndre thinks that's bad.
— Pinwheel Empire (@pinwheelempire) April 23, 2017
So crunch time of this game is gonna feature all the ugly foul-related crap in today's NBA, huh?
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 23, 2017
Hey, if you like free throws, get to ABC!
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) April 23, 2017
How do you play shooting guard and get hack-a-shaq'd?
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) April 23, 2017
Fans have the right to complain but the Rockets weren't doing anything wrong by intentionally fouling Roberson. Houston was just using the rules to their advantage and until the NBA makes some changes, the strategy of intentional fouling will continued to be used.