When the Spurs were over the limit of four personal fouls per period in Sunday’s Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Clippers, they committed too few fouls against center DeAndre Jordan and too many against point guard Chris Paul.

Hack-A-DeAndre — the intentional fouling of one of the NBA’s worst free throwers — backfired on the Spurs in a 114-105 loss that evened the series at two games apiece.

Jordan missed all four of the free throws he attempted but only two of those were the result of an intentional Spurs foul.

Paul got to the line 10 times, six of those in the final 64 seconds of the third quarter, when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich set up the Hack-A-DeAndre situation by intentionally calling for his team to commit its fourth foul of the quarter.

When Gregg Popovich then replaced Diaw with veteran big man Matt Bonner, almost everyone inside AT&T center knew what he wanted: Bonner taking intentional fouls on Jordan, who entered the game having made only 11 of 29 free throws in the first three games, 38 percent.

Instead, Clippers coach Doc Rivers countered by yanking Jordan and putting Glenn Davis in the game, eliminating the advantage the Spurs hoped to gain by intentionally sending one of the league’s worst foul shooters to the line in a pressure situation.

In the next 64 seconds, the Spurs committed three fouls on Paul, No. 5 in free throw accuracy this season, at 90 percent. He made all six foul shots and a one-point Spurs lead became a five-point deficit, the start of a 24-10 run that carried into the fourth quarter.

Popovich didn’t regret the decision to put the Clippers in the penalty situation.

Instead, he lamented ill-advised fouls against a great free-throw shooter.

“I thought we were just not very wise in a lot of situations,” the Spurs coach said, “like the period we gave six free throws in a row for fouls that were just absolutely meaningless for no reason.”

Guilty of one of the three fouls, veteran guard Manu Ginobili said he misread a Clippers fast break as a three-on-one (fast break), taking the foul rather than a layup.

The other fouls on Paul were called on Tiago Splitter as he battled Paul for an offensive rebound and a block call on Patty Mills that Ginobili believed could just as easily have been ruled a charging foul on Paul.

“It’s going to backfire sometimes,” Tim Duncan said. “You put a team in the bonus, and as aggressive as they are and as athletic as they are, they’re going to get to the basket, and they’re going to make plays sometimes.”

Jordan did nothing to dissuade Popovich from using the tactic as the series moves back to Los Angeles for Game 5. He missed all four of his foul shots Sunday and is now 11 of 33 for the series.

In fact, Popovich was even more angry about his players failing to grab Jordan on back-to-back possessions near the end of the first half. With Jordan still on the floor after the fourth Spurs foul of the second quarter, Popovich ran from his team’s bench almost to halfcourt, screaming at his players to grab Jordan.

His message wasn’t received, and Paul made a 3-pointer with 1:14 left in the half, giving the Clippers a six-point lead.

“I guess Tiago (Splitter) was the one guarding (Jordan), and he didn’t hear,” Ginobili said. “It’s tough to leave your man to go foul. It was just a misunderstanding. I don’t think it’s the reason we lost.

“Of course you get upset. It’s fine that Pop gets upset. It’s just a miscommunication.”

mikemonroe

@express-news.net