Welcome to a new installment of the NBA Rule Authority. Throughout the season we will be posting explanations to some of the NBA’s more complicated rules to help fans better enjoy the game. This week’s topic is Basket Interference -Goaltending
Section I—A Player Shall Not:
a. Touch the ball or the basket ring when the ball is using the basket ring as its lower base or hang on the rim while the ball is passing through. EXCEPTION: If a player near his own basket has his hand legally in contact with the ball, it is not a violation if his contact with the ball continues after the ball enters the cylinder, or if, in such action, he touches the basket.
b. Touch any ball from within the playing area when it is above the basket ring and within the imaginary cylinder.
c. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball, which has a chance to score, after it has touched any part of the backboard above ring level, whether the ball is considered on its upward or downward flight.
d. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball, which has a chance to score, after it has touched the backboard below the ring level and while the ball is on its upward flight.
e. Trap the ball against the face of the backboard after it has been released. (To be a trapped ball, three elements must exist simultaneously. The hand, the ball and the backboard must all occur at the same time. A batted ball against the backboard is not a trapped ball.)
f. Touch any ball from within the playing area that is on its downward flight with an opportunity to score. This is considered to be a “field goal attempt” or trying for a goal.
g. Touch the ball at any time with a hand which is through the basket ring.
h. Vibrate the rim, net or backboard so as to cause the ball to make an unnatural bounce, or bend or move the rim to an off-center position when the ball is touching the ring or passing through.
i. Touch the rim, net or ball while the ball is in the net, preventing it from clearing the basket.
PENALTY: If the violation is at the opponent’s basket, the offended team is awarded two points, if the attempt is from the two point zone and three points if it is from the three point zone. The crediting of the score and subsequent procedure is the same as if the awarded score has resulted from the ball having gone through the basket, except that the official shall hand the ball to a player of the team entitled to the throw-in. If the violation is at a team’s own basket, no points can be scored and the ball is awarded to the offended team at the free throw line extended on either sideline. If there is a violation by both teams, no points can be scored, play shall be resumed by a jump ball between any two opponents in the game at the center circle.
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Below is an example of “f” above and since it was an offensive player who touched the ball, Offensive Basket Interference is the ruling.