"Obliquely"???
 

4-23-3 After the initial legal guarding position is obtained: (c) The guard may move laterally or obliquely to maintain position, provided it is not toward the opponent when contact occurs.

In that context:

How do you define "obliquely"?

...and/or...

What synonym might you suggest for "obliquely"?

Diagonally away from the opponent, reaching a spot in the opponent's path first.

No good one-word synonym, other than perhaps "diagonally." The diagonal is defined by the direction between laterally and backwards.

At an angle.

I'm Getting There, I Think
 

Therefore, is it correct to conclude that "backwards" is included in the rule above, not necessarily by the term "obliquely", but by the phrase "provided it is not toward the opponent..."?

Yep.

In a ma thematic sense, even backwards is probably obliquely since I really doubt a player could move away in a direction precisely 90.0000000 degrees relative to the plane separating the players....particularly when the plane itself it not static.

Excellent description, Camron! Anything other than towards, and with consideration of a moving target.

Is That A Protractor In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me ???
 

So, we really have to carry a really, really, really, good protractor in our pocket?

Bust This Myth, Why Don'tcha!
 

BM: Tweet! "Block, 24 White!"
Coach: "Hey Stripes, he was moving backwards when he got run over!"
BM: "Sorry Coach. He was moving directly backwards 180 degrees. One degree one way or the other and he would've been moving obliquely. And the book says 'laterally or obliquely'. Block!"
:D

Where is Roy Rogers when you really need him?
 

The question is: Did he head the guy off at the pass, or didn't he?

And of course we all realize (don't we?) that when the defender is moving directly away from the ballhandler LGP is no longer a consideration.

10-4 good buddy.

But you can clarify why if you want to, just to keep the full package of the thread together, so we don't have any lurkers who get only half the picture.