What is goaltending?

Have you ever been sitting on your couch watching an NBA game and seen a seemingly clean block get reversed? Kind of like this:

I can see the look on your face right now. Wait, what just happened? He just blocked the shot. Why are they awarding the offense two points? 

That, my curious friend, is what we call goaltending (otherwise known as ‘basket interference’).

What is goaltending?

If you consult the NBA rulebook on this one, it’s kind of mouthful. So, here are some of the highlights.

"“A Player Shall Not: (a) Touch the ball or the basket ring when the ball is sitting or rolling on the ring and using the basket ring as its lower base or hang on the rim while the ball is passing through … (b) Touch any ball from within the playing area when it is above the basket ring and within the imaginary cylinder … (c) During a field goal attempt, touch a ball, which has a chance to score, after it has touched any part of the backboard above ring level, whether the ball is considered on its upward or downward flight … (d) During a field goal attempt, touch a ball, which has a chance to score, after it has touched the backboard below the ring level and while the ball is on its upward flight … (e) Trap the ball against the face of the backboard after it has been released … (f) Touch any ball from within the playing area that is on its downward flight with an opportunity to score.  This is considered to be a “field goal attempt” or trying for a goal.”"

That last portion (subsection f) is the part of the rule that we saw violated in the hilarious JaVale McGee clip above. If you play the video back, you can see the ball is already making its ‘downward flight’ before McGee decides to swat the ball over to Neverland Ranch.

As you can also see from the rules, it is possible to commit a goaltending violation on offense. Here are some more egregious examples:

To end our brief examination of goaltends, here is a fun little nugget. The website PBP Stats actually tracks player goaltends. And according to their database, Daniel Gafford led the entire NBA in goaltends last season with 19. The more you know.