ESPN.com presents TrueHoop http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop 60 en-us Fri, 24 May 2013 12:02:05 webmaster@espn.go.com http://assets.espn.go.com/i/espn/teamlogos/lrg/trans/espn_dotcom_black.gif 110 110 Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images Shane Battier does what it takes to win. Sometimes what it takes is ugly. Hard intentional fouls have been a focus of TrueHoop's Working Bodies series all season. Our position: They make the game more dangerous and ugly than it has any reason to be, and the league should do something about it. Which would be simple. These fouls happen, by and large, because NBA rules reward them. Hard fouling a player about to get an easy bucket (coaches call it "no layups") generally reduces the points a team gives up on that possession while also, importantly, discouraging future drives.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58631/shane-battier-on-hard-fouling-tactics Fri, 24 May 2013 13:29:42 EDT 58631 The conference finals are upon us, and David Thorpe's weekly rankings of postseason MVPs continue. Last time we talked, Marc Gasol was on top, but there's a new sheriff in town.  ]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58619/truehoop-tv-playoff-mvp-4 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:20:23 EDT 58619 Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images The rarest of sights: LeBron James attacking Roy Hibbert at the rim. After hitting the overtime buzzer-beating layup in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James insisted he barely noticed whether Pacers center Roy Hibbert was on the court. "I don't know if I was surprised or not. I really wasn't worried about if Hibbert was in the game at all." Later he added: "I was in attack [mode] when Hibbert was in the game, I was in attack when Hibbert wasn't in the game.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58603/roy-hibbert-is-in-lebron-james-head Fri, 24 May 2013 09:56:36 EDT 58603 Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: Suddenly, Frank Vogel is a household name. A week ago, anybody outside of Indianapolis or the circle of NBA cognoscenti had no idea who the Indiana Pacers’ low-key coach was, what he looked like, what he stood for. Until last week, ESPN’s Skip Bayless thought Vogel was a door-to-door dictionary salesman. Now, everybody knows his name. First because of the misquote-turned-story regarding LeBron James, and now for Wednesday night’s decision to sit center Roy Hibbert in the Miami Heat’s final, game-winning possession.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58615/first-cup-friday-248 Fri, 24 May 2013 05:28:11 EDT 58615 The Heat squeak through Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers thanks to weird tactical stuff including the crunch time benching of Roy Hibbert. ESPN's Tom Haberstroh and Israel Gutierrez discuss the lessons of the opener, and name the game's dirtiest player. ]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58601/truehoop-tv-lessons-of-game-1 Thu, 23 May 2013 14:07:23 EDT 58601 Mornings like these make the NBA so much fun, especially when the debate touches on concrete strategy rather than abstractions. On the surface, whether Pacers coach Frank Vogel should have left Roy Hibbert on the floor during crucial, late-game defensive possessions is a binary decision, but several factors govern Vogel's strategy in that situation. Although I'm strongly with the majority opinion that says when defensive possessions matter most you have your best defenders on the floor, the doubts implicitly expressed by Vogel when he left his 7-foot-2 center on the sideline must also be addressed.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58594/a-few-thoughts-about-roy-hibbert Thu, 23 May 2013 12:29:18 EDT 58594 Every now and again, for fun, we ask regular guest David Thorpe a Seinfeld trivia question. Grantland writer Zach Lowe has straight up talked trash about the level of difficulty. So we invited him on for our first-ever all-Seinfeld episode.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58592/zach-lowe-seinfeld-showdown Thu, 23 May 2013 11:02:20 EDT 58592 He's the Indiana University professor who got young Mark Cuban interested in advanced analytics, a pioneer of adjusted plus/minus, and a man who says some coaching moves in these playoffs have been flat wrong.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58590/wayne-winston-on-coaching-mistakes Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:27 EDT 58590 Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: So you think Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel had a difficult time getting over taking Roy Hibbert out in the third quarter of Game 2 against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals? What he did in Game 1 — with Hibbert again — against the Miami Heat should have caused him to toss and turn in his hotel bed, pace the floor in his room and look at himself in the mirror most of the night.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58587/first-cup-thursday-257 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:28:37 EDT 58587 Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY SportsLeBron James made a buzzer-beater with no time remaining to defeat the Pacers in Game 1.What can’t LeBron James do? Score 30 points? Check. Triple-double? No problem. Game winner at the buzzer? Sure. LeBron is the first player in NBA postseason history with a triple-double and a buzzer-beater game winner in the same game. Magic never did it. Jordan never did it. Bird never did it. Not even Oscar or Wilt. Only LeBron.]]> http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58575/lebron-james-isnt-clutch-think-again Thu, 23 May 2013 03:19:15 EDT 58575