Rndballref
20 Years Experience
Chicago, IL
Male, 60
For twenty years I officiated high school, AAU and park district basketball games, retiring recently. For a few officiating is the focus of their occupation, while for most working as an umpire or basketball referee is an avocation. I started ref'ing to earn beer money during college, but it became a great way to stay connected to the best sports game in the universe. As a spinoff, I wrote a sports-thriller novel loosely based on my referee experiences titled, Advantage Disadvantage
In the NBA rulebook team possession ends when there is a legal field goal attempt OR the opponent gains possession. So until the defenders gain possession the 24 second clock keeps ticking.
Technically, you cannot ever slap an opponent's wrist or hand unless it is on the ball. But in practice, good referees would be focusing on the palyers' torsos because that is where a meaningful foul is most likely to happen.
Let's suppose that I saw the play with exact clarity. The player who slapped your hand "caused" the ball to go out of bounds, and unless the slap was forceful or flagarant, I would call the ball out (violation not foul) - last touched by your opponent and give your team the throw in.
Sounds like you are getting a late start but I would never discourage anyone from pursuing their dream. By the way, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team and clearly he stuck to it.
In all the high school games I worked I probably saw the box and 1 a couple times.
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No this move is not legal because even though the offensive player has the right to the vertical space once he has attained a legal position on the floor, he cannot initiate contact by slapping the opponents arm.
The defensive player can penetrate that vertical space but cannot make contact in that space. So, a defender can reach into the vertical space of the offensive player to try to steal the ball as long as there is no contact. But if the defender reaches into the vertical space and initiates contact it is a defensive foul.
But what if the offensive player initiates contact inside his legally obtained space? If for example, the offensive player jumps vertically and crashes into the defender - foul on the defender.
But what if the offensive player slaps the defender's hand? The offensive player caused the contact, and most likely it occurred outside the offensiive player's vertical space, so it is a foul on the offensive player for initiating contact.
I know that many coaches teach the dribbler to put up a bent arm as a barrier to the defender but when the dribbler initiates contact by pushing or slapping the defender it is a player control foul on the dribbler. Most often, the dribbler is NOT entitled to the space where the defender is reaching in. In my opinion, this is not called enough.
By the way, there is no defintion in the rule book of "reaching in". If reaching in was illegal, you could never steal the ball from a dribbler.
A referee can order the scorer to change something in the book, if and only if the offical has direct knowledge that there is an error in the book. For example, if the ref knows a shot was called a 2 point shot but the scoreboard and book have it as a 3, the ref can get it changed. So in your question it depends on whether the coach brought something to official's attention that the ref knew without doubt was correct, he can change it. But if the ref got bullied by the coach into changing something the ref is not 100% positive then the ref should not work any games anymore.
Yes it is legal. In the rule book it is called a screen (assuming it is legally obtained).
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