Slapping the backboard
 

I guess this is a rule that should be covered every year, several times a year.

Last night I was at the Lead when a shot went up. After the shot missed, my partner (the C) blew his whistle and gave the indication to count the basket. He was directly in front of the offending team's bench and things became animated for a second.

One of the things I cover in pregame is we are not going to kick a rule on the court and come into the locker room to discuss it. We will slow things down, ask each other about questionable rules applications and fix things on the court to the largest extent possible.

Anyway, I went to him and asked him what he had. He told me the player slapped the backboard - of course it had to be without legitimately attempting to block the shot - and that is why he counted the basket. I told him that it should be a technical foul if that is what he judged to have happened.

I will leave the rule quotation to someone else (my friend from up north), but I think this is a case of taking the path of least resistance. It is very easy to count the basket and move on except...it isn't justified by rule.

A Side Note: I followed my rule - be nice until it is time to not be nice.
I asked both coaches to remain in their box because both were out of the box arguing calls. I also asked them to move two chairs that we admittedly should have taken care of before the game. Of course, one coach didn't move the chairs forcing me to do it and of course I ended up giving them both a T.

So did he change his call or leave it as is....???

How did the discussion in locker room go afterward? What'd your trail have to say about the play?

It wouldn't even matter what the Trail thought. The "C" kicked a rule. It wasn't a matter of judgement.

I was assuming there was a mini discussion on the court with the trail giving his input on the rule application.

So what did you do? Inadvertent?

Yes, he gave a T

We talked about the play at halftime, but it was pretty simple: he would have kicked a rule if he didn't change it. He was someone flustered all night. Now, this official is on my crew (we are divided into crews for our meetings) and he looked pretty good at the scrimmages when I observed him. But last night he wasn't clicking. He had a block/charge where the ball went in. He started a motion to count the basket and then went with a charge. It was ugly.

This is my philosophy and it has worked often. If something happens and I'm not sure of what we are about to do I will ask. I think it is worth delaying things for a few seconds to prevent the crew from kicking a call.

I had a college game earlier this year where a foul was called near the division line and I was the Lead. The foul was on the offense and we were going down court to shoot. I went to the calling official and asked him if there was team control at the time of the foul - I think he called the foul during a deflected pass (I wasn't looking directly at the play). As soon as I asked the question, the light went on and we took the ball out of bounds.

I had the same play a couple of years ago. We had a lengthy discussion on the subject here.

http://forum.officiating.com/basketb...-straight.html

And no bucket, right?

The ball did not go in, but if it had it would still count.

Right... but he was talked out of "basket interference".

Who You Gonna Call ??? Mythbusters ...
 

Slapping the backboard is neither basket interference nor is it goaltending and points cannot be awarded. A player who strikes a backboard, during a tap, or a try, so forcefully that it cannot be ignored because it is an attempt to draw attention to the player, or a means of venting frustration, may be assessed a technical foul. When a player simply attempts to block a shot and accidentally slaps the backboard it is neither a violation nor is it a technical foul.