National Basketball Association

Kevin McHale admits intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan was a mistake

Published May. 15, 2015 12:23 p.m. ET

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Lost in the commotion of Game 6's insane comeback was a very curious decision by Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale to intentionally foul DeAndre Jordan with 1:59 remaining in the second quarter.

At the time, Houston led by five points. But the decision had catastrophic results, and the Clippers went into halftime with a two-point lead.

After the game, McHale admitted to Sports on Earth's Michael Pina that the decision to foul was indeed the wrong one:

"Well, you know what, we were on a little bit of a roll, and I thought we just, you know, we've done it before, and I thought well, 'let's not let them run a play, let's see if [Jordan] can make two free throws,' and he did. They fouled us and we missed a couple. And I think that didn't help our team at all. That's one of those ones where you look back on it and … you know I just was gonna do it one time, just to see if we could get a little 'does he miss one, make one, miss two.' But needless to say. I tell our players all the time, 'Coaches make mistakes, too.' Some of these coaches don't tell you that. Coaches make mistakes too. That was a mistake. That took our rhythm out of the game a little bit. But my thoughts were good."

Right on McHale for admitting his costly mistake, but more important is the genuine insight he gave into what was going through his mind before unintentionally derailing his team's rhythm and momentum.

It's hard to envision McHale going back to the strategy in Sunday's Game 7.

(h/t: Sports on Earth)

Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images