Five Fouls Not Enough?

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by cmathews

if a team has played well enough in the whole half to keep the foul count low, why penalize them for using the fouls strategically to keep the other team from scoring.

So that they don't have to foul 5 times in order to get to the 1-and-1. Suppose Team A has played great defense and has only been charged with 3 team fouls in the second half. However, in the last minute, they are losing by 4 points.

What's the obvious strategy? Foul and make Team B shoot 1-and-1. Unfortunately, Team A now has to foul 4 times to get to that point. Why make them do that? We all know what they're trying to do. So on the second foul inside the last minute (or 2 minutes, if you prefer), we automatically go to the bonus. It prevents fouls for the sake of fouls.

I'm not saying I agree with a rule change for this. I'm merely answering your question about why somebody might be in favor of it.