Rules of Basketball

My poor roommate Trent has some difficulties understanding the rules of the game of basketball.  In order to help him further his education, I have decided to repost a few rules of basketball here:

  1. Blocking- impeding the progress of an opponent by extending one or both arms horizontally or getting in the path of a moving player. The fact that you can’t impede the progress of an opponent obviously implies that you cannot CHARGE THROUGH the person in an effort to get the ball.
  2. Charging- running into a stationary player while you are moving with the ball.
  3. Hacking- the player hits the arm or hand of the person holding the ball.

Further analysis from the NBA rules:

In all guarding situations, a player is entitled to any spot on the court he desires, provided he legally gets to that spot first and without contact with an opponent. If a defensive or offensive player has established a position on the floor and his opponent initiates contact that results in the dislodging of the opponent, a foul should be called IMMEDIATELY.

A player may continue to move after gaining a guarding position in the path of an opponent provided he is not moving directly or obliquely toward his opponent when contact occurs. A player is never permitted to move into the path of an opponent after the opponent has jumped into the air.

A player who extends a hand, forearm, shoulder, hip or leg into the path of an opponent and thereby causes contact is not considered to have a legal position in the path of an opponent.

A player is entitled to a vertical position even to the extent of holding his arms above his shoulders, as in post play or when double-teaming in pressing tactics.

Published by

Joel Gross

Joel Gross is the CEO of Coalition Technologies.