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Old Mon Mar 04, 2002, 03:59pm
BktBallRef BktBallRef is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by jbduke
The first is, how is it that an official on the floor can be looking up at the clock and at the shooter and know with certainty that the seemingly-light-speed-moving tenths counter read two when the shooter secured the ball?

That said, now I'll move to what I think is a more important point. The rule that you state was inappropriately applied was put in because some rules committee member(s) became persuaded (how I do not know)that it is not possible to catch the ball and shoot it in less than three tenths of a second. If this is indeed true--and common sense has me leaning toward the negative, but that's another issue--then why should it matter whether the play occurred on a throw-in or free throw, or during the course of 'normal' play? If the rules say that it's not legal (presumably because it's not possible) in one situation, then why would the reasoning change under a different hypothetical?
You answered your second question with your first question. With play going on while the clock is running, it's impossible for an official to look at a player, the ball, and the clock and determine when the player got the ball and released it. That's why the 3/10ths rule only applies to situations where the clock is stopped at 3/10ths or less.

Also, I did not concede that there was only .2 seconds on the clock when the player got the ball. As you stated, there's no way an official can look at the clock and know exactly when a player got the ball. I simply stated that if the ball was released prior to the horn, the basket is good. There's no disputing that statement.

Quote:
Originally posted by RookieDude
It has to do with "reaction time".

The rules committee had to come up with a time, and .3 seems to be what they decided was a fair time to have so that the timer could not give an unfair advantage to the shooter after a FT or Throw in.

If the clock is already running...the timer has no input as to weather the try can be made with .3 seconds or less.
Count the goal!
It has very little to do with reaction time. It's simply that the rules committee determined that a player could not catch and shoot a ball with only .3 second left. 3/10ths allows us to know that a catch and shoot isn't possible, no matter what happens to the clock.

Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Dexter
Basically, an end of game try happened at the end of an NBA game where there was a huge clock lag. The NBA conducted experiments and said that it was humanly impossible to have a try after a throw-in with 3/10ths or less.
Not quite.

The NBA rule is 2/10ths or less. 3/10ths means that a catch and shoot is possible.

"NO LESS THAN :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures possession of an inbounds pass and then attempts a field goal. If less than :00.3 remain on the game clock when this situation occurs, the period is over, and the field goal attempt will be disallowed immediately whether successful or unsuccessful.
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