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Old Sat Apr 07, 2007, 01:50pm
dmotes dmotes is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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help out the writer

Folks:

For your speculation and consideration...please feel free to react.

I wrote myself into a corner recently...I wonder if you can consider these scenarios and comment on just how reasonable or ridiculous you find them, and perhaps make a few suggestions so the game play I describe will be as realistic as possible.

It's a high school basketball game, but I would be interested if rules varied for other levels of play.

In one scenario, a team down by two points has 1.3 seconds to play and is putting the ball in play after a made basket and a timeout.

The team with the ball throws the in-bound pass to a player in the three-point area. The player jumps for the (intentionally) high pass but lets it go between his hands without touching it--as a decoy; another player has slipped position close to the basket, catches and shoots successfully. However, the timer accidentally starts the clock at the moment the decoy player seems to touch the ball (the game is being held in the defense team's home court.) The loss of time between the apparent and actual catch means the player who catches the ball and shoots does not have enough time to release the ball so the shot is disallowed.
In my scenario I have the home fans mob the court but the visiting coach appeals to the officials who realize that he is correct. I then have them allow the final basket on the theory that the final play was successfully completed and the shot made, which sends the game into overtime.

1. would 1.3 seconds be the appropriate interval for this scenario?
2. is such an error one that officials can make a judgement call on? Can they allow a basket that is released after time has expired by simply judging that the timing was wrong? Or would they have to replay the final seconds? (I would argue that the team executed the play in the time left, and that to replay it would mean that they have been deprived of the play, as the defending team would not likely fall for it again.)
3. would officials likely consider in their decision that the basket, if allowed, would tie the game rather than win it?
4. if the home team coach, in a sportsmanlike decision, agreed with the change and accepted it, would that be the final decision?


question 2:

This is a good old play that I haven't seen lately: Taking the ball in on the baseline after a made shot (but no timeout) the player making the throw in runs the baseline while an opposing player harasses him. The player with the ball out of bounds moves along the baseline, drawing the defensive player along with him to where another offensive player establishes position, in effect a pick. The harassing player does not see the pick and collides with the player. A foul is called.

1. The clock would not have started in this scenario. True?
2. Is this a non-shooting "player control foul," or would the fouled player get free throws?
3. If there were a timeout after the made shot, would the ball automatically come in at center court, thus spoiling the scenario?

question 3

I know there are specific provisions for what player actions can be completed when very little time remains on the clock, such as .1 second and .3 seconds. Can someone give me a sense of what those generally are?

What would happen if this scenario played out in the last seconds of a game?

.1 second remains; team A is ahead by 2. Coach A loudly reminds officials that it is not possible for a player to catch and shoot in that time, and so instructs his players to stand still and only to avoid the foul. Team B throws long in-bounds pass which player B then bumps in volleyball form into the basket. I assume that the rules permit a tap within .1 seconds; I assume that they would not automatically disqualify such a play.

1. is such a situation a matter of judgement for officials, or are they bound by rules?
2. assuming that the ball goes in...are there any other aspects of this scenario that disqualify it (assuming that the writer has the ability to make it seem feasible, of course!)

Thanks for your input, and I hope this spurs some discussion.

Dave Motes
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