Can someone please explain fouls to me?

[Mackrel829]

I'm from the UK so didn't grow up with a huge amount of exposure to basketball or the NBA. I've been following the game for a while though, and have a good understanding of rules and strategy. What I still struggle to understand, however, is how the referees decide which instances of contact are legal and which are illegal.

I was always told that basketball is a 'non-contact' sport. Obviously, contact occurs all the time in basketball. When is it a foul, and when isn't it a foul? I would assume that incidental contact is allowed, but sometimes this even seems to be called as a foul. On the other hand, I just got done watching a game in which Player A was dribbling along the baseline, Player B slapped the crap out of his arm from behind, and the ball ended up out of play. Player B's team were awarded the ball, so the referees clearly acknowledged that he didn't touch the ball. Why is violently chopping at a guys arm whilst he's dribbling not a foul?

Also, how do the referees decide which contact is legal for shooting fouls? When players drive to the rim, there is almost always contact if another player jumps to contest the shot. Sometimes this contact is called as a foul, and sometimes it isn't. I can't work out any pattern to the calls, and apparently neither can the players with the frequency with which they throw their hands up at the call/non-call. The replay will slow it down, and the commentators will say 'thats clearly a foul' or 'i don't think that's a foul'. How are they making those assessments?

I will also see nothing called when a player drives to the rim and another player collides with them. Then, I'll see a defender clip a players fingertips on a jump shot, and this gets called a foul. Why is one of these a foul but the other isn't?

Thanks in advance!

[tinpanalley]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

Official rules are always a good place to start: https://official.nba.com/rule-no-12-...and-penalties/
There should be some decent videos on Youtube

[Mackrel829]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

Official rules are always a good place to start: https://official.nba.com/rule-no-12-...and-penalties/
There should be some decent videos on Youtube

I've read some of the rules but it occasionally leads to more confusion than clarification.

To take one example that may be related to one of the ponts that I made in the OP, the rules state the following:

'Contact which occurs on the hand of the offensive player, while that part of the hand is in contact with the ball, is legal.'

How can contact be made with a part of the hand that is already in contact with the ball? One part of the hand cannot simultaneously be touching both the ball and an opposing player's hand. Does this apply to my original example of dribbling by the baseline? Was that player allowed to slap his hand because his hand was also in contact with the ball? That seems like a reasonable deduction but the part of the hand that was hit was not the part that was in contact with the ball, which is what the rules state is legal.

Thank you for the reply and the link but I'm looking for more of a layman's explanation of how most referees would apply their discretion to the rules, rather than directions to the rules themselves.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

'Contact which occurs on the hand of the offensive player, while that part of the hand is in contact with the ball, is legal.'
How can contact be made with a part of the hand that is already in contact with the ball?

A guy is dribbling the ball and you come and smack the hand he's dribbling with from the top.
Like I said, Youtube has lots of good more practical things on the rules. But like any sport, ALL the fouls wont necessarily be there because there are several that don't occur very often.

[tru11]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

Basically it all comes down to the referees themselves and their interpretation of the rules.

If you are a superstar then their is a different set of rules then if you are a bench player.

Travel is in the rules but good luck seeing that called.

If it leads to a spectecular finish then its all good


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Mackrel829]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

A guy is dribbling the ball and you come and smack the hand he's dribbling with from the top.
Like I said, Youtube has lots of good more practical things on the rules. But like any sport, ALL the fouls wont necessarily be there because there are several that don't occur very often.

Then you're not contacting the part of the hand that's in contact with the ball. You're slapping the top (or back) of the hand, whereas the ball is in contact with the palm of the hand. These are not only different parts of the hand but are possibly as different as different can be in this instance.

[Anthraticus]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

When is it a foul, and when isn't it a foul?

The refs guess a lot, as you can see when you're able to watch the slow mo replays on tv and how often they blow calls . And sometimes it's still even a tough call for you to make at home, just by the nature of the game and the fact that there's a lot of 'grey area' when it comes to fouls and how that particular ref/person 'sees it'. Things aren't always black & white like it is with baseball for instance. Was he out or was he safe...strike or ball ? These things are much clearer and better defined.
(not that they don't screw up calls there all the time also, but that's a separate issue and I'd be all for 'robot' umps/refs in everything if they did what they were supposed to do and get all the calls right theoretically)


A lot of times s**t happens too fast in basketball and the ref might not catch it or they might not have the best angle to see with bodies constantly getting in the way. It's a very inexact thing and is something that always bothered most about the game and gave it more of an unfair feeling compared to the other major American sports because it allows for bs like superstars getting the vast majority of those calls that 'could go either way'. Like the best players need any more help.

edit: Again, the majority of the time things are pretty clear and it's a easy enough/obvious call, but I'm not talking about those situations and there's enough of the other ones for it to get real annoying.

[Pedienika]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

when they need it - then they see it

[coolastrology]

Re: Can someone please explain fouls to me?

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