Goaltending vs Basket Interference

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Originally Posted by bainsey

That reminds me. Has anyone here had to make an offensive goaltending call? I can see offensive B.I. happening (an intended rebound), but is there any reason to block a shot of your teammate?

Never made the call, but observed one where, if there ever was an opportunity to call it, it should have been.

I had the next game in a tournament, so arrived early to catch a little of the ongoing game, standing at the far end line. An alley oop pass from the corner that was well defended came in. However, the pass was long and looked more like a shot--it was clearly above the rim, on its downward arc, and would have at least hit the top side of the rim (whether back iron, far side of the hoop, near side of the hoop, or gone in is anybody's guess). Defender and offensive player, both near the rim, jump (both had height and hops) for the ball. Defender recognizes that his touch will be goal-tending, and he pulls his hands back, leaving the offensive player the liberty to catch the ball un-obstructed and jam it, which he does.

I called the play into one of the officiating hotlines and asked if there was ever a time that offensive goaltending should be called, and gave them the scenario. The consensus was, while the rules allowed it, it should not have been or be called.

In this one particular scenario the offense clearly got an advantage as the defense could not defend. Maybe the ball would have gone in anyway; maybe it would have bounced off to the far side of the rim for a rebound. What did happen was a fairly easy goal in a close game that disallowed the defense from defending.