Note:  This isn’t really a breakdown, more of a rant

Fighting for their playoff lives, the Houston Rockets were down 4 points with 1:06 seconds left.  Their opponent the L.A. Clippers just pulled down an offensive rebound and bring the ball upcourt:

Now, it is obvious that the Clippers are trying to kill some clock here, and they effectively do.  20 valuable seconds come off the clock before Baron Davis hits his jumper.  This brings up something that has always bothered me when it comes down to coaches strategy, why don’t NBA teams foul earlier when they are losing (not counting the Hack-a-Shaq)?  The Rockets don’t foul in this situation, but they aren’t the only one, most teams in the NBA won’t foul here, and I think it’s silly.  In my opinion, when you are down by more than 1 possession with a minute left you want to extend the game as long as you can, and one way to do that is you foul.

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After Chris Bosh’s jumper extending the Raptors’ lead to 5 with 0:37 left, I thought that the Grizzlies were out of it.  However, they way they played the final 37 seconds was very smart, and that is what allowed them to comeback, get the game into overtime, and win the game in OT.  Let’s look at the three elements that allowed them to tie the game in the final 37 seconds.

The Quick Three

The Grizzlies come out of a timeout down by 5.  Now they have two options they can either go for the 2 or go for the 3.  The key though is that they need to get a shot at the rim quickly (we will get to that in a minute).  Mayo sets the downscreen for Zach Randolph in attempt to free him up at the top of the key.

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