There's a strategy used in the NBA where teams will intentionally foul the league's worst free throw shooters in order to gain an advantage. It's usually done when the fouling team is behind, in the hopes that the missed free throws while the clock is stopped will allow them to erase a lead, and get back into the game.
But it doesn't always work, it's embarrassing for everyone involved, and it's painful to watch.
This went down in the second half of the Pistons' win over the Rockets on Wednesday, and Andre Drummond -- who's shooting a ridiculously low 35.5 percent on free throws this season -- set the NBA record by missing 23 of his 36 attempts.
Here's how it started, with K.J. McDaniels intentionally fouling Drummond five straight times away from the ball in a nine-second span.
The Rockets fouled Drummond 12 straight times to start the second half, and eventually were able to take the lead before the Pistons regained control. Drummond went 6-of-12 from the line on his fourth quarter free throws, though, and the Rockets ended up losing in the most humiliating way possible.
After it was over, Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy had some pointed criticism for NBA commissioner Adam Silver for allowing this nonsense to take place.
“Adam Silver and the league have decided that’s the way they want to play the game and that’s what they want people to watch; as long as the fans are okay with watching it then they’re going to keep playing that way," Van Gundy said, via Pistons.com. "At some point the fans may get to the point and say, “We’re not going to pay to watch this, we’re going to flip the channels.” They haven’t yet, and that’s what Adam keeps saying, but when they do, the league will have to make an adjustment. That’s not up to us, our job is just to coach the game within the rules. I don’t decide what it is what people want to watch, that’s up to Adam and his people.”
The solution to this problem is extremely simple. All the league needs to do is make it so that when a foul occurs off the ball, the team that was fouled gets the option of shooting the free throws or restarting the possession by taking the ball out of bounds. But until that happens, we're likely to see more games like this.
(Oh, and here's a little background on why that "iCarly" theme song was used.)
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