The Indiana Pacers are fighting desperately to keep their place in the NBA Playoffs. This is a brutal way to lose under any circumstances. It’s an especially brutal way to lose under those.
This ticky-tack foul on Ricky Rubio shooting 3 could cost Pacers a playoff spot
This was a brutal way to lose.
That’s Jeff Teague fouling Ricky Rubio — Ricky Rubio! — on a three-pointer in the closing seconds with the Pacers up two. Rubio is a reluctant three-point shooter with a career 31.6 percentage mark. He’s the last person the Minnesota Timberwolves wanted to shoot a game-winning three. And the Pacers fouled him.
Rubio hit all three free throws and Minnesota came away with a 115-114 victory.
By the way, the only reason the Timberwolves were that close was because Karl-Anthony Towns jumped into Thaddeus Young to draw a foul.
Those two free throws cut Minnesota’s deficit to two. When the Pacers failed to score on the ensuing possession, Minnesota had a chance to win.
One has to wonder when the league will finally crack down on these foul-drawing tactics.
Referees have made Towns’ move a point of emphasis for years, but never seem to follow through. Meanwhile, Rubio’s tactic — feel inconsequential contact from a defender fighting over the screen, then flail your body in six different directions in an attempt to “shoot” a contested three behind your screener — has become increasingly popular this season. This James Harden play is an egregious example, but he’s far from the only one doing it.
It’s time the league do something to stomp this out of the game.
Because when it’s all said and done, it could cost the Pacers a playoff spot. Sorry, Nate McMillan.
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