Has that ever worked to the other team's advantage? In every game I've seen it done, the opponent loses, either because the game slows down too much or the team's morale drains completely. maybe I'm making a precluding statement because after all, teams only hack a shaq when they're losing against the lakers. It would be interesting to see if they had a stat on how many times the hacking has been employed and what record the lakers have had. I'm sure the lakers have won every game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It would be interesting to see if they had a stat on how many times the hacking has been employed and what record the lakers have had. I'm sure the lakers have won every game.</div> Well, you have to keep in mind that Hack a Shaq (H a S) is only a facet of an overall strategy. H a S is only going to slow the man, not stop him. As they say, "He's going to get his". The principle of H a S is to maximize remaining possessions by putting the Lakers in a lower percentage scoring situation. Shaq shoots around 50%, then you instantly have the possibility of a 2 or 3 for 1 exchange, if you can convert in the other end. However, IMO there's more to the Lakers win/loss record than whether or not H a S in employed. The Lakers aren't a single man show and when Shaq gets slowed down, Kobe usually picks it up and vice versa.
I forget which team it was, but I remember when the opposing team implemented the Hack a Shaq when they were winning and it actually helped secure the victory. Does anyone else remember that?
^was it during the playoffs this year or a previous year because i remember the trailblazers do it to secure 1/2 victories over LA in the Lakers 1 championship run.
Hack a Shaq is dumb, but hey when your down by double digits its gotta work better than allowing the team to hold the ball for about 20 seconds and still give them a chance at 2 or 3 points. Even know you can go for a steal last I checked Shaq generally misses more free throws than steals are in a quarter so its a hit or miss thing that misses more times than it makes.
It's only the case for "desperate situations call for desperate measures." It's only a last resort and should be down so, no matter who, it should be seen as a 50% chance when it comes to Shaq, either goes in or doesn't. He's a very lazy and tempermental person, so simply agitate him, get him into foul trouble and abuse his lack of work effort, great defense would make him go nuts. Hack-a-Shaq works, but he has proven to be lucky and kind of clutch at times when it comes to there nowadays.
H-a-S was started by the Dallas Mavericks, the brainchild of Mark Cuban. It's only worked once in 20 or so playoff games, and at the time the Mavs were already winning. They used it to keep the Lakers from scoring, but even though the H-a-S helped them win that game, the Mavs STILL lost the series. IMO, when a coach uses H-a-S he is just saying to his players "I don't think you are good enough to beat the Lakers." It's a bad tactic with horrible results. What I think is funny is before a series with the Lakers all the coaches ride in on their high horses saying "We won't stoop to that level" but mid-way through the series they are yelling "Foul Him!!!"
blah! <div class="quote_poster">Quoting los:</div><div class="quote_post">H-a-S was started by the Dallas Mavericks, the brainchild of Mark Cuban. It's only worked once in 20 or so playoff games, and at the time the Mavs were already winning. They used it to keep the Lakers from scoring, but even though the H-a-S helped them win that game, the Mavs STILL lost the series. IMO, when a coach uses H-a-S he is just saying to his players "I don't think you are good enough to beat the Lakers." It's a bad tactic with horrible results. What I think is funny is before a series with the Lakers all the coaches ride in on their high horses saying "We won't stoop to that level" but mid-way through the series they are yelling "Foul Him!!!"</div> I think it was start by Don Nelson before Cuban was ever there? Correct me if I'm wrong. But it seems more of a NEllie thing to do.
HaS works in some points, but, in some it doesn't. It works in that, Shaq does miss a lot of free throws. More often than not, he misses at least one. But, than again, it also doesn't help in a couple points. First, he's not going to miss them all. He will make them on the occasional basis, and, as long as he's making half of them, it's really not working. The second in that, if he does make at least the 2nd one, the Lakers have stretched the lead and, because, he made it, the Lakers are now capable of going to the other end and setting up their defense. Whereas, if they were to miss the shot, you know, like, no HaS, they wouldn't be able to do that. So, pretty much, it's kind of a hit or miss thing for the opponent. If Shaq makes it, not only do they get points, they get to set up their defense, and, if he misses, well, that's just less of a hole you have to dig yourself out of.
yeah i remember the Blazers using hack-a-shaq when they were losing in a playoff game a couple years back. Every single time he got the ball they fouled him immediately. If I remember correctly, they came back to close the gap but the Lakers eventually pulled away and won the game
I dont remember the hack a shaq working anytime lately except once. It worked once this season when dallas did it, but they were up by 15 points in the 4th quarter and had absolutely no faith in their defense so they started doing the hack a shaq to keep their lead. Other than that one time, it hasnt worked in years
They said in last night's game that hack-a-Shaq has actaully worked only once. And how many times have they done it? As bad as he shoots those free-throws it doesn't seem to be working...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting lakeshow:</div><div class="quote_post">I dont remember the hack a shaq working anytime lately except once. It worked once this season when dallas did it, but they were up by 15 points in the 4th quarter and had absolutely no faith in their defense so they started doing the hack a shaq to keep their lead. Other than that one time, it hasnt worked in years</div> That's the way hack a shaq should be used. Why let Kobe get the ball and shoot the lights out? This is how Minnesota should play considering they have 24 fouls that can and should be used just for Shaq. I know they can't win this series, but it would be interesting if Saunders had one of centers/pf's foul out each quarter. If they did this, they might make it out of LA with a victory if they can also win at home.
They don't have just 24 fouls to use; you forget, not just big men can foul. So you guys can use fred to do it for ya.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting los:</div><div class="quote_post">H-a-S was started by the Dallas Mavericks, the brainchild of Mark Cuban. It's only worked once in 20 or so playoff games, and at the time the Mavs were already winning. They used it to keep the Lakers from scoring, but even though the H-a-S helped them win that game, the Mavs STILL lost the series. IMO, when a coach uses H-a-S he is just saying to his players "I don't think you are good enough to beat the Lakers." It's a bad tactic with horrible results. What I think is funny is before a series with the Lakers all the coaches ride in on their high horses saying "We won't stoop to that level" but mid-way through the series they are yelling "Foul Him!!!"</div> The Hack-a-Shaq worked for the Mavericks when they used in back in December of 2003. It was the first time the Mavs won against the Lakers on the road in the past 13 years. H-a-S only works when the Lakers are down, becuase it kills whatever momentum they have, making a comeback. Here's the link http://www.nba.com/games/20031212/DALLAL/recap.html
I thought there was a game atleast a couple of seasons ago where they used H-a-S successfully. Oh well. Point still stands. It's not very effective, and it only works if you already have the lead.
If you look at the FG% of most teams in the NBA today it is probably around 45%. All Shaq really has to do is make 1 out of 2 free throws when he gets to the line and he's shooting the team average. It's the same thing as missing a shot on one possession, getting the ball back and making the next shot. That's 50%. The stats on Hack a Shaq is skewed anyways because Hack a Shaq is usually employed when the other team is down. The win ratio of team down by 5 with 3:00 minutes to go would be pretty low for any team.
