coach yelling for players to foul

[Kostja]

As I alwasy find it helpful to read how you handle certain situations in the US (high school and college), I'd like to give you my opinion on intentional/common fouls in the end of games (from a FIBA standpoint, so to say) ...

I think we agree that it is an accepted strategy to foul to stop the clock when your team's behind and time is running down.

But, intentional (or unsportsmanlike, as we call them) fouls have to be called when a player without the ball is fouled to stop the clock (that's not a legitimate play, as long as it is not in the attempt to deny a pass or something like that), the foul occurs before the game clock has been started after a dead ball situation to prevent it from further running down, and of course in all situation where you would call an intentional foul earlier in the game (excessive contact, push, grab from behind and so on).

What we do to prevent players from committing intentional fouls, is call common fouls pretty fast. Every referee should be able to recognize stop-the-clock situations. If a contact occurs with the assumed intention to stop the clock, call it regadless of advantage/disadvantage, so it is not necessary to repeat contact with higher intensity.

Best regards
Kostja