Greg Popovich: Spurs intentionally fouled JaVale McGee because they were “running out of gas”

Andy FlintMuch to the dislike of Nuggets’ fans and viewers alike, Greg Popovich, and the San Antonio Spurs deployed their secret weapon late in the 3rd quarter of Tuesday night’s action against the Nuggets in Denver. That weapon you ask? The Hack-O-Shaq, or Hack-O-Howard… or whatever clever terms we can come up with for intentionally fouling JaVale McGee (note that I tried and the creative juices aren’t exactly flowing, or perhaps there just isn’t anything that really fits JaVale, or McGee). Greg Popovich is always in the mood to send a poor free throw shooter to the stripe. Ask Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard. They’ve both felt the wrath of Pop’s hacking ways. Some fans see it as a great strategy, and some see it as a goofy rule that should be banned from the association. Popovich seems to have a pretty good reason for employing this specific strategy last night against McGee, and it wasn’t necessarily a mental game against the young center, but more of a means to an end. Pop claims that his (older) Spurs team was gassed. “They [Nuggets] were scoring every time. And we were running out of gas, running out of energy. So we figured if we could go up-and-down a few times and not even have to play any defense it might put some fuel back in the tank and it did,”Popovich said. “During that period we couldn’t knock down a couple of threes and it [the lead] stayed 9, 10, or 11 or whatever. We couldn’t get below it [double digit lead] because we couldn’t make a shot, but it gave us a little bit of rest and helped us stay in it.” McGee shot so poorly from the charity stripe that he made teammate, Kenneth Faried puke all over Denver’s bench. Just kidding, but seriously, Faried did nearly yack on Ty Lawson’s sneakers, but I can’t be positive that it was because of JaVale’s poor showing at the line. I’d like to imagine that were the case though. Popovich’s theory may have some legs, being that the Spurs were finishing a tough back-to-back series after losing in Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night. We all know that the Spurs core isn’t getting any younger, so Pop’s story seems plausible. I’d also like to mention that the Spurs plan worked pretty well. McGee, a 40% free throw shooter on the season, only managed to go 4 of 10 from the line (right on par) and only finished with 10 points in 11 minutes of play. The Spurs also managed to go on a 31-22 run in the 4th quarter and ultimately cut a 15 point Denver lead to a 6 point Denver win. As the Nuggets were able to stave off the surging Spurs and hold on to a 112-106 win at home. Popovich’s plan to get his aging players some well-needed rest almost worked. Sports-Kings - The Kings of Sports Lists