Kicked ball on inbound throw in

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

While JR's rule citation says that the clock should start on the touch, the clock can't start if the touch causes the ball to be dead immediately, IMO. If the player receiving the pass were standing OOB when he touched the ball, we would not start the clock, would we? This is the same situation. The touch causes the ball to be dead immediately, just as if he were OOB.

I have to disagree with you, Chuck. It's not the same situation. The rule says the clock starts when the ball is touched by a player ON THE COURT, which is defined as being inbounds. I agree that the clock should not start until the ball is legally touched on the floor but that's not what the rule says.

In your example where the clock doesn't start when the pass is touched by a player OOB, the clock doesn't start because THE PLAYER IS NOT ON THE COURT. That's the difference in the two plays.

5-9-4
If play is resumed by a throw-in, the clock shall be started when the ball touches, or is touched by, a player on the court after it is released by the thrower.

Once the ball is handed to the thrower after the kick, the ball is live and it's too late to correct.