Atlanta Hawks

Hawks' strategy of intentionally fouling Mason Plumlee is dooming Brook Lopez, Nets

Published Apr. 30, 2015 2:23 p.m. ET

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It would appear that Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer learned well from his former mentor, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Pop is the foremost practitioner of the "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy of intentionally fouling bad free throw shooters, but Budenholzer hasn't hesitated to chop and screw an NBA game with a bit of intentional fouling of his own in the past. And that willingness has reared its ugly head anytime Mason Plumlee enters the game for the Nets.

Plumlee might not seem like the ideal candidate; he's merely a bad free throw shooter for his career (54.5 percent from the line), not a horrendous one. Last season, Plumlee shot nearly 66 percent on his free throws. But this season, on more than 100 additional attempts, that number plummeted to 49.5 percent.

So the Hawks have taken the risk that Plumlee's numbers this year were more telling, and it's worked out splendidly. Plumlee's been limited to just over eight minutes per game in five games against the Hawks, forcing Brook Lopez to play through fatigue and borderline exhaustion, as Nets coach Lionel Hollins simply can't rely on Plumlee to spell Lopez for any length of time. A fatigued Lopez, in turn, limits one of Brooklyn's true advantages in this series, with Lopez's size too much at times for Atlanta's (relatively) smaller bigs.

"It's just strategy," Hollins said. "They are doing their strategy, and we are doing our strategy, and they caught us off guard down here in Atlanta [in Games 1 and 2] when they did it. I wasn't caught off guard."

"I knew they were going to do it, but I was going to play him and I wasn't going to let them continue to do it and kill momentum."

Plumlee is 2-of-8 on his free throws so far in the 2015 NBA playoffs.

(h/t Nets Daily)

Photo Credit: David Butler II/USA Today Sports