Was working an intramural game today, NF. I got to talking about the .3 sec scoring rule (not going to type it out, we all know it). My partner tried to tell me the following: .7 or less and you can only tap, .3 or less and you cannot score. Has anyone heard anything like this? Is/was this a rule somewhere or just some myth someone came up with?

He mythed it by a mile!

He not only mythed it, he missed it! You had it right, Luke

yep hey made a mythtake, I have heard more than one myth that someone mistook for a rule...I have heard a similar one to this...I worked with a partner once that tried to tell me to run off .3 or less. He didn't include the .7 but if it was .3 or less just run it off and go the next quarter or the locker room..... needless to say, we didn't mythtakenly run it off....

This sounds like a study done by the NBA several years ago. I don't remember if they ever implemented the rules (though the announcers on TV always mention that with .3 or less there can only be a tap).

Perhaps that is the basis of the Myth.

there most certainly is a rule on the .3 seconds 5-2-5.. it is the .7 that is mythifying

Trent???
 

There was a play that happen in the NBA in the mid-80s, where a NY Knick player made a shot with .7 seconds on the clock, against the Chicago Bulls to win the game. The NBA was the first to make a rule that you could not "catch and shoot" with a certain amount on the clock. I think there original rule was .7 seconds, like our current .3 seconds rule. They might have changed it later, but that is where the .7 comes from. I cannot think of the player that hit this "famous" shot that changed everything. But on replay and with a clock, you could tell the clock was not started properly and this brought on the change. Also, tenths of a second was very new at that time as well. Before there was no need for this kind of rule in theory. Now you would be hard pressed to find a scoreboard that does not have tenths of a second on it.

Peace

Obviously, I could be wrong, but I don't think that the NBA rule was ever 0.7 seconds. I think the situation was that there was 0.7 seconds (or thereabouts) and the player got off the shot, even tho he seemed to take longer than that. So the NBA did a study, and the result was that it takes at least 0.3 seconds to catch and shoot. So that's what they changed the rule to. It hasn't been the rule for that long, either. It should be possible to find out when it was introduced and what it was originally.

There was also a situation in the Orlando/Charlotte series a couple years ago in which the officials waved off a potentially game-winning shot, b/c they had decided in their pre-game that it was "humanly impossible" to catch, turn and shoot in less than 0.7 seconds. That play was the impetus for the use of instant replay for last-second shots. Maybe that's where the myth comes from. :shrug:

Full story: http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0429/1375496.html

Re: Trent???
 

The Knicks-Bulls game winning shot was made by Trent Tucker and when the ball was inbounded, there was :00.1 seconds on the clock. There never was a :00.7 rule in the NBA (99.5% sure).

From http://www.alangoldsher.com/tucker.html

Q: What else do most Chicago Bulls-ologists remember about Trent Tucker?

A: They remember January 15, 1990. Martin Luther King Day. Bulls vs. Knicks. Point-oh-one seconds left in the game. Knicks have the ball. They inbound to Tucker, who catches, shoots, and nails it. Bulls lose. The upshot? The NBA mandates that a player needs three-tenths of a second to make a shot—a decree sometimes referred to as “The Trent Tucker Rule.”

Thanks, Coach. At least I was close. :)

This is another rule that will set the crowd on fire. I think that it would be as bad as backcourt except that it doesn't come up as often. Often a player will catch and shoot with .2 or .3 on the clock and clearly get the shot away before the buzzer (the old human lag-time thing, or whatever you want to call it) and we, meanwhile, have started to wave it off as soon as the catch is made. Then you can just smile and listen to the rude comment from the fans.

Re: Trent???
 

Incorrect. The game was played on MLK holiday Monday in 1990 at MSG. There was only .1 seconds on the clock. Trent Tucker caught the ball in the corner, turned, shot, and hit a 3 to win the game, all in 1/10th of a second. Within a week, the NBA posted an interpretation that a shot could not be caught and released with less than .3 seconds on the clock.

The NBA rule is not the same as the NFHS rule. And there were not .7 seconds on the clock.

EDIT: Sorry PA Coach. I posted after reading Rut's reply but before reading yours. But I watched the game and remember it well. And you're 100% correct that there was never a .7 seconds rule.

[Edited by BktBallRef on Dec 11th, 2003 at 01:37 PM]

Tony,

Better try that editing function one more time. :)

Mregor

I think he was talking about your "3.3" seconds. :)

Had this exact scenario last Friday Night.... Home team down by two with .3 sec and the inbound pass from their baseline. A2 catches the pass while airborne, double-clutched the ball, (I am whistling it dead) regains control and shoots in the three before he hits the floor. Buzzer finally sounds. Because of the .3 sec rule, the home-court timer could not help (cheat for) this team.

Game over. Needless to say, I was not a popular guy.

What will challenge the .3 rule in the future will probably be the use of a timing system where the official, not the timekeeper, takes control of starting the clock.

Not really. The issue is that, in high school, you can't have a catch and shoot in .3 seconds. It doesn't matter who starts the clock.