Don Nelson helps Warriors steal another playoff game

After Adams rejected Jimmy Butler's shot with under five minutes to go, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to get Adams off the court with a strategy invented by Nelson: The "Hack-a-Shaq."

Nelson developed the strategy, which only works outside the last two minutes of the quarter, to exploit poor free-throw shooters on the opposing team. The most prominent bad free-throw shooter when Nelson tried it in 1999 was Shaquille O'Neal, who became the namesake for the unorthodox defensive gambit.

Since O'Neal's career free-throw percentage (52.7 percent) was lower than his field-goal percentage (58.2 percent), teams were better off sending him to the line — until the last two minutes, when intentional, off-ball fouls result in two free throws and possession. Adams is a 53.3 percent career shooter from the line, making 46.2 percent of his freebies this season.

The Warriors inserted Kevon Looney into the game to foul Adams off-ball. Looney did so twice in a row on the Rockets' next possession, and Rockets head coach Ime Udoka responded by taking Adams out to avoid him going to the foul line. With Adams on the bench, the Warriors outscored the Rockets 7-3 and got four out of the five rebounds before he returned with 1:55 to go.

Udoka likely should have kept Adams in, but perhaps he was haunted by his team's poor free-throw shooting all series, and all season. Houston shot 19-of-31 on free throws Monday night. For the series, the Rockets are shooting 63.1 percent, a big reason they lost 109-106 Monday night and are down 3-1 in the series.

It was a bold move by Kerr that did exactly what he hoped. The strategy also kept Draymond Green from having to battle with Adams for rebounds while playing with five fouls. Udoka also took Adams out with 40 seconds to go, and the Warriors got an offensive rebound on the next possession, though they couldn't score.

Hack-a-Shaq, or technically, Hack-an-Adams, changed the course of Game 4. It may have changed the course of the whole playoffs. Somewhere in Hawaii, Nelson must be delighted.