For all Basketball officials: When can you stop the clock for a player who is having "difficulties?" Difficulties would range from serious injury to minor injury (but unable to continue at that point) to lost contact to poked in the eye...

When can the official stop the clock? I, until this week, thought the officials could stop the clock whenever there is a problem that gives one team a 5 on 4 advantage. What can you tell me? Thanks!

Depends on the age -- the younger you get, the faster there is going to be a stoppage; the older you get, the more you're going to see that a stoppage is only going to occur if the injured person is put at risk of further injury by the play. In other words, if there is an injured player down in the key, the ref will probably stop to prevent a scrum on top of his head, but if he's at the other end, play will continue unless it is serious.

Take a TO (if it's your ball) or foul someone (if you're on D).

Why would we stop the game when it's 5 on 4? That puts a team at a disadvantage not allowed by the rules.

Stop the play when the player's team is in possession! Or you can stop play when the opposing team is not attacking the basket or in the midst of running a play.

I only stop the clock if the injured player's team has the ball (and they aren't driving for a layup), or if the injured player is in a position where safety becomes an issue. If the injured player is on defense, on the opposite end of the court, I'll let the offensive team run a 5 on 4 offense for a while.
Of course, if they're running a delay offense and the player may need quick treatment....

Stopping the clock
 

to Hawkk:

I most definitely would have called time-out if I had the ball, however the game situation made this more difficult.
-They had the ball and were running offense
-We were inside the last 2 minutes of a 1 point game (hence you can see I would be hesitant to foul)

Do you really have to give up the chance at a "W" to get a player who can see out of both eyes in the game?

Re: Stopping the clock
 

In this situation, hope your 4 can get the rebound. Personally, I wouldn't stop the game.

Had a similar situation in a freshman girls game last week. Except, it was about a minute into the game, and the girl who the coach said was injured was playing defense. Obviously the injury was not severe, since neither of us even noticed it. Coach complained to my partner that he was expecting an injury timeout. Also, the game ceased being close about 45 seconds in.

Stopping the clock
 

Obviously, I'm surprised at what I'm hearing.

This was a Freshman girls game also. The young lady was poked in the eye as we made a basket. (not the shooter) She immediately bent over and covered her face. I asked immediately about the injury and the officials went ahead and let the other team inbound the ball and go run offense. The injured player stayed at the other end with her face covered. Aren't games stopped to tuck a shirt in or tie a shoe? Isn't an injury more important than that?

Re: Stopping the clock
 

A couple of thoughts here.
Immediately after a made basket? I'd stop it if I saw it before the ball was inbounded. If the ball's in play before I notice it? Sorry.
By the way, I won't stop a game to tuck a shirt. Address it during a dead ball. Shoe laces? Same thing. I'll delay a throw-in for a shoe lace. I figure if I have to wait for a dead ball to retie my shoes, so do the players. (^:

If we allowed for non-safety injury timeouts for defensive players, it opens a whole lot of loopholes for coaches to get subs in when they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Especially late in a close game.

Sorry, coach,

snaqs

Re: Stopping the clock
 

Coach, earlier in the thread you said the other team had the ball and was running its offense. In that case, as long as the team is attacking the basket, play continues 5-on-4. If, however, the girl's injury was apparent before the other team inbounded the ball, I would've stopped play for a sub, since the ball is already dead.

No, they're not. At least, they shouldn't be.

Chuck

Re: Stopping the clock
 

I will "hold up" after a dead ball to allow a player to tie a shoe or such.

If there was a fast break or other such offensive play going, I wont stop play for a possible injury. Unless, of course,I believe the player is seriously injured. Typically those players are on the floor. A lot has to do with the level of play, score, etc. With that said, and as Mr Elias indicated, I have and your ref could have stopped play immediatly after your made basket to check on the player.

Stan

Re: Stopping the clock
 

If the ball was not in play yet, then you could have called a TO. In a HS game, for a poked eye, I believe there are very few officials who would stop play when the other team has the ball. For me, if this was a 5th or 6th grade game, I would stop play once it was apparent that the other team was not in an immediate attack on the basket; older than that, I wouldn't stop while the other team had the ball.

The NFHS rules reference on this is 5-8-2 Note: When a player is injured as in Art. 2(a), the official may suspend play after the ball is dead or is in control of the injured player's team or when the opponents complete a play. A play is completed when a team loses control (including throwing for goal) or withholds the ball from play by ceasing to attempt to score or advance the ball to a scoring position. When necessary to protect an injured player, the official may immediately suspend play.