More than 8" to play, in-bounding in the front court? Foul the dribbler on the second dribble.
More than 8" to play, in-bounding in the front court? Foul the receiver before he can square up.
Less than 8" to play, in-bounding in the back court? Foul the dribbler before he crosses the mid-line.
Less than 8" to play, in-bounding in the front court? Switch on everything, foul the receiver on the catch.
I don't want to make this sound easy; this is not easy and I know that. One huge problem: The referees! What if they don't call the foul? This happens all the time! We've seen it in the NBA and in FIBA. What if the referee lets the first foul go and the dribbler then goes up for a three and the defender fouls him? That a 3 + 1 or three free throws. So, the players must understand that the referees may not be up to speed on all this. It also helps if the coach knows the officials and the way they call such things. Understand, the referee may make a non-call simply because he is not ready for the play. Finally, the referee might just call a flagrant foul.
Knowing who to foul is also crucial. Of course, that's a given. Every scouting report in every league on the planet covers this: Who to foul in late game situations. Same with the tactical foul. Which begs the question for the doubters: What's the difference between fouling to stop the clock or fouling to prevent the three? None; both are 'tactical' fouls. Anyway, all things being equal, foul the big man, as he's not usually a good free throw shooter. Forget percentages. Ray Allen shoots 90% on FTs and I saw him go 1-4 in the last minute vs. Miami last week. The idea: Don't foul a guy that's a clutch free throw shooter. Ray Allen may be that despite his 1-4.
This is different from fouling to stop the clock. When fouling to stop the clock, you are trying to save precious seconds; when making the tactical foul, you hope to eat up a few seconds before having to make the foul. It's a fine line. Mike Riordan was an artist in this. He would be on the guy like a postage stamp, as they say in Europe. Then, after eating up a few seconds, he'd make the foul. But, no team should worry about the seconds on the clock. They should worry about one thing: Making the foul before the man with the ball can start his shot. Once he does that, no foul. Hands down and step back. And hope he misses. D