After Paul Pierce’s three pointer, the Boston Celtics found themselves down by 4 points with 27.2 seconds left.  Now obviously, this is a two possession game so the Celtics had to foul to try and get the basketball back:

That’s a good quick foul from Rajon Rondo, where he goes for the steal, but then fouls quickly. The problem is that since the Celtics weren’t over the foul limit and didn’t commit a foul in the final two minutes, they had a foul to give. This means they had to foul a second time, and this is where the Celtics make a mistake in my opinion:

The Rockets take advantage of being able to enter the ball into the backcourt, getting it to Aaron Brooks as Rajon Rondo is trailing him. Once Brooks gets the basketball, Rondo decides to play defense instead of fouling. My guess is that he is hoping for the eight second call, which is what originally gets called as Brook tries to get the timeout. However, after some discussion, the refs realize that only 6 seconds passed and they grant Brooks the timeout.

After the timeout, a deflection, and another timeout, the Celtics finally get commit the foul that sends Houston to the line:

The clock stops with 17.2 seconds left, meaning that the Celtics used 10 seconds to do something that normally takes 1 to 2 seconds (commit two fouls).

I understand why Rondo didn’t foul when Brooks had the basketball in the backcourt, but I definitely do not agree with it. Rondo was hoping for the 8 second call to force a turnover (he’s not going for the steal, but instead trying to keep his body in front of Brooks, not letting him cross the midcourt line), but in my opinion the six seconds that burns off the clock is more important. Even if it wasn’t intentional, Brooks played this perfectly from the Rockets perspective. He let as much time as possible come off the clock, and then called a timeout.

My biggest problem with this is that the Celtics need two possessions to come back, trailing by four. If they foul right away and the Rockets make both foul shots, it remains a two possession game, meaning that the wasted 10 seconds are more important because they need to maximize time and possessions. The reward (a 8 second violation and a turnover) just isn’t worth the risk (letting a lot of time come off the clock) in this case.

That doesn’t mean I think playing straight defense instead of fouling is always the wrong decision, but the circumstances need to be right. I like doing it in a one possession game where you can use the halfcourt line to get a trap and then force a turnover that will give a team an opportunity to tie the game.