Silver to seek end of Hack-a-Shaq, cites surge

10:23 PM ET

OAKLAND, Calif. — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he would use his “bully pulpit” to try to force through reform to eliminate the intentional fouling of poor free throw shooters, also known as the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy.

Silver was speaking in his annual address before Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In the same room at Oracle Arena a year ago Silver said he was “on the fence” on the issue.

But this year there’s a two-and-half times increase in such fouls this season over last. Silver said the NBA’s research showed a 16-fold increase in such fouls over the past five years.

“Not only is that something that is bad for our network partners, but for all of the fan research we have shows that the fans hate it,” Silver said. “There may be a compromise in there where we can cut it down significantly.”

Editor’s PicksSilver: Reports show refs 90 percent correct

Adam Silver says the NBA wants to be as transparent as possible in determining whether refs are making the right key calls despite the fact they get them right a “vast majority of the time.”

One option is to make an intentional foul penalty one shot plus the ball as it is currently in the final two minutes of games.

The NBA competition committee …

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