Goaltending is a violation of the rules in the sport of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. It consists of certain forms of player interference with the ball while it is on its way to the basket. It is goaltending if a player touches the ball when it is (a) in downward flight; (b) above the basket rim and within an imaginary cylinder projecting above the rim; (c) not touching the rim; and (varying at certain levels of the sport) after it has touched the backboard and has a chance of going in the hoop. Rule 4, Section 22 Goaltending in this context defines by exclusion what is considered a legal block of a field goal. In

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and

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

basketball, goaltending is also called when a player interferes with a

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

at any time in its flight towards the basket.

Effect

If goaltending is called for interference with a field goal, the shooting team is awarded the points for the field goal as if it had been made. The team who commits the violation then inbounds the ball at its baseline, the same as if it had conceded a basket. In high school and NCAA basketball, if goaltending is called on a free throw, the shooting team is awarded one point and a

technical foul In basketball, a technical foul (colloquially known as a "T" or a "tech") is any infraction of the rules penalized as a foul which does not involve physical contact during the course of play between opposing players on the court, or is a foul by a ...

is called against the offending player. Goaltending is commonly confused with the related violation of basket interference (also called offensive goaltending) which occurs during an attempted field goal when a player touches the basket, the rim, or the ball when it is on the rim . Like goaltending, basket interference when committed by the defending team results in an award of points to the shooting team as if the attempted field goal had been made.

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

rules allow a defender to block any shot that is over the rim and the ball is on its upward flight. The prohibition against goaltending was adopted by the NCAA in 1944 (and later by the NBL) specifically because of George Mikan. Prior to the advent of the high-jumping 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Mikan, goaltending was not addressed because it was thought physically impossible. It is possible for goaltending to be called after the buzzer, although this is very rare. According to (W)NBA rules, play is not over until a shot taken before the buzzer is completed. In the 2012–13 season Jermaine O'Neal was called for goaltending against the

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after time expired; the 3-point shot counted, ending the game in a

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

loss, 101–98.

References

{{basketball Basketball penalties