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Originally Posted by ChuckElias
The reason for the rule change was to penalize blocking the FT on the way up, immediately out of the shooter's hand.
Picture this very familiar scenario. Team A is down by 2 points and A1 is awarded 2 FTs in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter. A1 misses the first FT. We all know what's going to happen next, right? A1 is going to miss the FT intentionally and attempt to get the rebound for a put-back to tie the game.
What's the best defense against this possibility? Block the FT as soon as it is out of the shooter's hand. Before the rule change, it was simply 1 point and the ball was awarded to Team B. But this clearly is an unfair use of the rule. So to prevent teams from doing that in the closing seconds, the rule committee added the extra penalty of the T. This way, Team A still has a chance to tie or win the game.
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And another good point by Chuck....
Only on a free-throw can GT be called if the ball is touched on the way
up by an
opponent of the FT shooter. All other forms of goaltending occur when the ball is on the way down.