While the New York Knicks blew out the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their series on Monday, Nick Nurse resorted to intentionally fouling Mitchell Robinson in the second quarter. Robinson missed all four free throws, and Mike Brown was forced to sub him out.
For all the well-deserved talk of how good Rudy Gobert has been in the playoffs, particularly on the defensive end, his season-long struggles from the foul line have continued. You have to wonder if Mitch Johnson will consider a ‘Hack-a-Rudy’ strategy at any point during the series if the free throw woes don’t go away.
Gobert's foul shooting woes continue
After his rookie year, Gobert shot at least 60 percent from the foul line in 10 of his next 11 seasons. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year was never elite from the charity stripe (career-best 69.0 percent in 2021-22), but he was good enough that deploying an intentional foul strategy wasn’t really a wise option.
This year in the regular season, Gobert made just 52.9 percent from the line, easily his worst mark since his rookie season. Now he did improve (a little) later in the season, and his 62.1 percent accuracy in March was his best month.
Unfortunately, the playoffs have seen Rudy go back to his free-throw struggles. On Monday, he shot 1-for-5 in what was a team-wide issue as Minnesota made just 12-for-21 overall. It would have been catastrophic if Julian Champagnie’s buzzer-beater 3-point try had gone in, and the Timberwolves would have had to stew over all their missed opportunities from the line.
Now in seven playoff games, Gobert is just 9-for-22 from the foul line, good for only 40.9 percent. Other than a 4-for-5 performance against the Denver Nuggets in Game 3, Rudy is now 5-for-17 in the other six outings.
Intentionally fouling a poor free-throw shooter hasn't really been something that Mitch Johnson has often done. This is the playoffs, though, and this is his first postseason rodeo as a head coach, so he may resort to strategies that he hasn’t before.
I'm not sure whether the Spurs will turn to fouling Gobert intentionally at any point this series. I personally hope it doesn't happen, because from an entertainment standpoint, it isn't enthralling basketball to watch. San Antonio may have too much pride in their work on the defensive end to believe it’s a strategy they want to use. If it happens, though, it’s up to Rudy to knock them down to shut down the intentional fouling.
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