Hack-a-Shaq

Name

Background

Strategy of repeated intentional fouling

Wilt Chamberlain and off-the-ball foul rule

The reason they have that rule is that fouling someone off-the-ball looks foolish... Some of the funniest things I ever saw were players that used to chase like it was hide-and-seek. Wilt would run away from people and the league changed the rule based on how silly that looked.

Hack-a-Shaq

Nelson's innovation

There are several late-game situations where committing an isolated intentional foul could be more helpful than hurtful. For a team trailing late in the game, stopping the clock is a higher priority than keeping the opponents from scoring. In other situations, intentional fouling typically lets the opponents score more points.
Intentional fouling every time the opponents get the ball was an innovation of Don Nelson in the late 1990s as coach of the Dallas Mavericks. He theorized that if the opponents played an especially bad free throw shooter, intentionally fouling him might lower his team's points per possession when compared to a conventional defense against them. Nelson used the strategy throughout the game, when the late-game penalties for off-the-ball fouls did not apply, such as the ball being given back to the fouled team.
However, Nelson did not invent the strategy, as his innovation was to take a strategy whose primary purpose had always been simply stopping the clock and use it instead primarily to minimize the opposition's scoring.

Hack-a-Rodman

In that game, however, Rodman shot 9-for-12 from the free throw line, defeating the strategy and the Bulls won the game. The strategy was thus largely forgotten, except for Mavericks player Bubba Wells, who had been assigned to foul Rodman, and set the all-time NBA record for fewest minutes played before fouling out of a game.

Hack-a-Shaq

Nelson used the strategy again in 1999, this time against Shaquille O'Neal, a career 52% free throw shooter. Other NBA coaches also did so to defend against O'Neal.
Nelson first deployed the strategy against O'Neal in the 1999–2000 season. O'Neal had a known weakness in free throw shooting, with a career average of 52.7%. He once missed all 11 of his free throw attempts in a game against the Seattle SuperSonics on December 8, 2000, an NBA record. As the strategy proliferated throughout the league, the Lakers hired Ed Palubinskas, a 90% free throw shooter in his playing days, to coach O'Neal on free throws. O'Neal's free throw percentage peaked at 62.2% in the 2002–03 season.
While playing, O'Neal's attitude toward the strategy was generally one of defiance, claiming that he would make the most crucial free throws "when they count" and that the strategy simply would not work against him. O'Neal called Nelson "a clown" for using the strategy. In his next game against O'Neal, Nelson showed up wearing a clown nose. During the 2008–09 preseason, O'Neal expressed his disapproval of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and his team's use of the Hack-a-Shaq during the first round of the 2008 playoffs.
On October 29, 2008, Popovich poked fun at O'Neal, having Michael Finley commit an intentional foul five seconds into the first game of the regular season. O'Neal laughed when he looked over to the Spurs bench and saw Popovich smiling while giving two thumbs up, further asserting that it was a joke.

Problem for the league

As with Chamberlain decades earlier, intentional off-the-ball fouls against O'Neal became controversial. During the 2000 NBA playoffs, both the Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers relentlessly used the Hack-a-Shaq defense against the Lakers. The NBA discussed expanding the off-the-ball foul rule to cover more than just the final two minutes of the game, or adding another rule change that would discourage the use of Hack-a-Shaq. Ultimately, though, the NBA did not change any rules to discourage the Hack-a-Shaq strategy. A potential reason for the lack of action was that the Lakers won both of the most notorious games where Hack-a-Shaq was used, suggesting that the strategy was too ineffective to require remediation.
Gregg Popovich used the Hack-a-Shaq strategy successfully in Game 5 of the Spurs' 2008 first round series against O'Neal and the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal made only 9 of his 20 free throws, dropping the Suns to 20-of-37 total on free throws. The Suns were eliminated from the playoffs in a 92–87 Spurs win. In May 2008, ESPN columnist John Hollinger named the use of the Hack-a-Shaq by the Spurs as the "best tactic" of the first two rounds of the 2008 NBA playoffs. Hollinger wrote that Popovich was the "first to really master how to use this weapon to his advantage", and explained that Popovich used the tactic "to eliminate 3-point attempts" and with 25 seconds or less at the end of quarters to get the ball back for the Spurs to gain the last possession. Hollinger stated "This should be a Eureka! moment for other coaches and I expect it will be the league's most widely copied tactic next year."
In subsequent seasons, fans and media remained displeased with the continued use of the strategy, particularly in high-profile playoff games. In 2008, the NBA Competition Committee again considered rule changes but did not achieve consensus. According to an ESPN study in 2016, offensive efficiency was higher than the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors when the Hack-a-Shaq strategy was used against a team. NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the competition committee would look into changing the rule before the start of the 2016–2017 season due to extended length of games. It takes only three or more Hack-a-Shaq fouls to add 11 minutes to the length of a game and at the time such fouls were being committed at a rate of four times more often than the prior season.

Use against other players

Dwight Howard

On January 12, 2012, the Golden State Warriors fouled Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard intentionally throughout the game. The result was he attempted a record 39 free throws, breaking Wilt Chamberlain's record of 34 set in 1962. Howard entered the game making 42% of his free throws for the season and just below 60% for his career. He made 21 of the 39 attempts and he finished with 45 points and 23 rebounds in the Magic's 117–109 victory. The following season, Howard was traded to the Lakers. In his first game back in Orlando on March 12, 2013, he made 25-of-39 free throws, setting Lakers records for free throws made and attempted while tying his NBA record for attempts. Howard made 16-of-20 free throws when he was fouled intentionally by the Magic.

Tiago Splitter

On May 29, 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder used a so-called Hack-a-Splitter strategy on Tiago Splitter during Game 2 of Western Conference Finals of 2012 NBA Playoffs, who made 5 of 10 free throw attempts.

Josh Smith

On April 10, 2015, the Spurs were reported to use this strategy on Josh Smith to keep the basketball away from guard James Harden, with the Spurs winning this game by a score of 104–103.

DeAndre Jordan

During the 2015 NBA Playoffs, Howard, then with the Houston Rockets, was targeted often by opponents, particularly during round 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers. During Game 2, Howard made 8 of his 21 free throw attempts out of the 64 total free throws for the Rockets. In turn, the Rockets targeted DeAndre Jordan, who had been victim of Hack-a-Jordan or Hack-a-DJ since 2014, and in particular was fouled five times in two minutes during the previous playoff round against the Spurs. In Game 4, Jordan broke O'Neal's record for most free throw attempts in a half with 28.

Andre Drummond

On January 20, 2016, the Rockets used Hack-a-Drummond against Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond, with him going 13 for 36 from the free throw line. Drummond, missing 23 of his 36 attempts, are an NBA record for most free throws missed by a player in a game. However, the Pistons still won the game 123-114. On November 28, 2023, the Boston Celtics employed the Hack-a-Drummond strategy up 32 points against the Bulls, with the Celtics needing to win by at least 23 points to be guaranteed a spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament.