Is it a fight or not?

[Adam]

Not my game, but it happened in our association.

End-game situation, A is ahead by 3 with very little time left.

A1 at the line for one shot, and he misses. A2 gets the rebound and is intentionally fouled by B1.
A3 comes in and shoves B1 and they square off but no punches are thrown.

From the bench, A6, A7, A8, and A9 all come about 10 feet onto the court. None of these players engage in any activity.

Now, I know in a fight, they are all given a flagrant, coach is given one indirect, and two free throws are shot. My question here, is, since there was no fight, what do you do?

I seem to recall the rule says "or a fight may occur" on this one, but I don't have my book with me.

Otherwise, if this is not a fight, then you'd have 4 regular technical fouls, 4 indirects on the coach, and 8 free throws.

[just another ref]

104-5: Bench personnel..... shall not leave the confines of the bench during a fight or when a fight may break out.

Penalty: Flagrant foul.......but only one technical-foul penalty is administered regardless of the number of offenders. This one foul is also charged indirectly to the head coach.

[Adam]

Thanks, jar. After I started thinking about the play, that little, "or when a fight may break out," came to mind but I wasn't sure.

[M&M Guy]

10-4-5: ...Leave the confines of the bench during a fight or when a fight may break out.

So, I would say this covers calling on indirect T for the bench players, even though the players on the floor may not actually be charged with fighting. Therefore, 4 ejections, A2 shoots 2 for the intentional foul, team B shoots 2 for A3's T, team B shoots 2 for the one indirect T on leaving the bench, then B gets the ball at half court for the throw-in while A's coach gets the seat belt for the remainder.

I would then need to take 2 Aleve to cover the pain in my wrists for typing all this in the post-game report.