Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyMac
Good example. So the semicircle "line" really is like some type of demilitarized zone. It's illegal for the player behind the arc to touch it, and it's also illegal for the free throw shooter to touch it. Am I correct in this interpretation?
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No.
Like all marking on the court, only ONE edge of the marking is relevant. The rest of the painted line/arc is just part of the court on that side of the relevant edge. The actual boundaries on the court indicated by the various markings are infinitely thin but painted with a thick stripe for visibility. No matter how thickly it is painted, the relevant boundary is always just one of its edges (with one exception that has two edges but only one at a time).
- The FT lane lines are in the lane
- The FT line is in the lane
- The 3 point line is in the 2-point area
- The division line is in the backcourt (from the perspective of the team with the ball as that is the only backccourt that matters)
- The center circle is in the jump circle
- The OOB lines are OOB.
In the case of the semi-cirlce, it is the outer edge just like every other line marking anything to to with the FT lane. The arc that marks the semicircle is in the semicircle. If the shooter is touching inside the semicircle and not touching outside of the semicircle, the shooter is in the semicircle (ignoring the vertical plane elements of the various lane boundary rules).
All of these points are made more clear when you recognize that the thickness of all of the markings of except the division line have "minimum" thicknesses but can legally be made much thicker and can even be solidly filled as in the case of the lane, semi-circle, jump circle, or 2-point area.
You can also look at the definition of the semi-circle....it has a 6' radius, not 5'10" with a 2" stripe that is no-mans land.