I Remember

I caught the last 4 minutes of the Lakers-Clippers game the other night won by the Clippers and that game helped me remember why I no longer watch the NBA. The last 4 minutes of the game must have taken 20 minutes to play between all of the free throws and timeouts. There is some kind of new rule in the NBA that if a player gets fouled in the last two minutes of the quarter then it is an automatic two free throws. The Clippers had an 8 point lead when I turned it on but before the two minute mark. it was an all out sprint by the Clippers to blatantly grab Dwight Howard because he can't hit a free throw. I don't care if he was on the other side of the court from the ball, they grabbed him and the refs would call a foul. The strategy by the Clippers was that they would rather take their chances with Howard at the free throw line than Kobe Bryant catching the Lakers up by nailing a few three pointers. I can understand the strategy but it made for some extremely boring basketball. Free throw shooting has been one of the basic fundamentals of basketball since just about the beginning of the game itself. During the ESPN era, it is probably one of the least practiced areas of the game. It is impossible to make ESPN's nightly Top 10 hitting a free throw. Let me know when it is time for the playoffs.