Why Cavs intentionally foul Knicks' Mitchell Robinson, and how rules work for hacking strategy

Before the Cleveland Cavaliers collapsed in historic fashion in Game 1 against the New York Knicks, they had broken out a smart strategy.

They went with the "Hack-A-Mitch" move against Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, intentionally fouling him to send him to the free throw line during the third quarter.

Robinson ended up shooting 2-for-8 from the foul line, including two empty trips on the first two times the Cavs employed the hacking.

Clearly, it's no secret why the Cavs do this, but it's still quite notable, particularly if they continue to do it throughout the series.

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Why do the Cavs intentionally foul Mitchell Robinson?

They're doing this because Robinson is an awful foul shooter.

Of the last 24 free throws Robinson has taken through Game 1 of this series, he has made eight, a 33% rate.

He's a career 50.8% foul shooter in the regular season, and that number drops to 38.1% in his postseason career.

The idea of an intentional foul while in the bonus is that, at best, the Knicks probably get one point out of a Robinson trip to the line. And they might get zero.

It's like a half-turnover or a full turnover, depending on what Robinson does at the line.

When can the Cavs intentionally foul Mitchell Robinson based on how the rules work?

The main key here is that it has to be outside the final two minutes of any quarter.

If an intentional foul happens inside two minutes remaining in a quarter, it results in one free throw and the team maintains possession, a bit like a flagrant foul. That's designed to prevent this from being too frequent.

So it's a minimal window. A team has to have already committed enough fouls in a quarter (five team fouls) to be in the bonus, because otherwise the intentional foul doesn't accomplish anything.

These fouls also count toward a player's total for fouling out, so a team has to be careful not to commit too many intentional fouls with one player, or risk losing them on during-the-play fouls later on.

But the Cavs saw a chance in Game 1 with about three minutes left in the third to start doing this. If the opportunity presents itself again, they may go for it again.

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