NBA Needs Rule Change Due to Hack-a-Howard
For the second time this season, a team has taken the hack-a-Howard defense to a new level. The Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night sent Dwight Howard to the line eight times in the last six minutes as they tried to climb back into the game.
The hack-a-Howard strategy started in the mid-90’s with another Magic center. When Shaquille O’Neal entered the NBA, his free throws skills were marginal at best so teams began fouling him intentionally rather than having him dominate in the paint. This strategy became known as “hack-a-Shaq”.
When Dwight Howard began dominating teams the way Shaq did, they took the same approach on the current Magic center. But this year teams have taken it to a new level. The new strategy was first adopted on January 12 by the Golden State Warriors. When the Magic were in Golden State during their four game west coast trip, the Warriors began fouling Howard at mid court as not to let him or the three point shooters have any opportunities. Howard took an NBA record 39 free throw attempts in that game hitting 21 of them.
Friday night the Cavs took a more extreme approach to hack-a-Howard when they began fouling him before the Magic even got the ball in. With the Magic up 10 with about six minutes remaining in the game, the Cavs began fouling Howard immediately. Howard ended up attempting 16 free throws in the final six minutes of the game. He made nine of those attempts.
Under current NBA rules, if a player is fouled even without the ball, it is simply two free throws. With teams using the hack-a-Howard defense to such an extreme now, that rule needs to be changed. Under the current rule, the game becomes boring as most of the time is spent with the players walking down the court and Howard attempting free throws.
Some would argue that this strategy perfectly fine because it’s within the rules and it’s a legitimate game plan. However, the NBA is meant to be entertainment. Despite what we’ve seen from most of the teams so far in this shortened season, what’s most important is that the fans are entertained. With teams using hack-a-Howard so much, the entertainment value drops dramatically.
There’s one simple solution to fix this problem. If a player is fouled without the ball in his hands, that team should get one free throw and the ball. If that was the case, it would likely stop the hack-a-Howard defense and games in which the Magic lead late would be much more free flowing.
Most likely the NBA won’t change this rule and teams will continue to use hack-a-Howard as a defense against the Magic. But if the NBA would like more highlights from one of their biggest stars, they will amend the rules to put an end once and for all to this game stopping strategy.
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