I had a kid at my church slap the crap outta my hand when I was shooting once and I called a foul. He went nuts saying you can hit the shooters hand if it is flat on the ball (contouring the shape of the ball). I told the kid to shut up. Perhaps I was wrong.

While watching the celtics yesterday, there was a play where garnett slapped the heck outta the hand of the other guy during a layup. van gundy said it wasn't a foul.

what is the ruling on this? I always though if you hit the shooter in any way it is a foul and that you had to get all ball...

I'm pretty sure the hand counts as part of the ball but I could be wrong.

It depends.

Who is shooting, who is defending, what is the score of the game, what is the series at?

If Kevin Durant or D. Wade are shooting, it is a foul. If D.Wade is on defense, it is no foul. If a larger post player is shooting over a smaller guard, it is no foul.

Are the Knicks trailing a Michael Jordan-less Bulls team, then it is a foul, so the Knicks can advance in the series.

wow, looks like I owe the guy from church an apology. From nba.com:

"The hand is considered part of the ball when it is in contact with the ball and contact with a players hand when it is in contact with the ball is not a foul"

Never knew this, I guess you can slap the crap outta a hand which is touching the ball.

Iowaaggie

I thought that was for shooting, not the outside of the hand.

The only way you hit someone's hand during a shot is coming from behind......

It will get called 50/50.

I don't know if that is the rule at all levels..

Can't believe you didn't learn this in 4th grade.

van gundy was full of crap on that comment though. garnett was hitting his hand but also had plenty of contact with the forearm as well. its not like if you hit the hand then it magically negates any other contact. i may be thinking of a different play but i thought it was when wade was moving across the lane for jumper and garnett came in from the side

>>He went nuts saying you can hit the shooters hand if it is flat on the ball<<

He's an idiot.

The hand is not part of the ball/bat in ANY sport (except maybe NBA). However, there IS an exception (HS/NCAA) on hand contact with one who's dribbling the ball. As far as a shooter goes, in general, contact should be called. There are exceptions, obviously, to contact where the defender doesn't gain an advantage or if the shooter is already out of control and just throwing up a prayer. In those situations, he is not "protected" as we say, but in all other situations, we protect the shooter. Contact that wouldn't be a foul if committed around the division line IS a foul when committed on the shooter. Even if this was an exception, it would be almost impossible to hit the hand only, and there isn't any exception in rule 10.6 (personal fouls) in either the Fed or NCAA code that I'm aware of.

Officiated HS/NCAA for ~ 23 years, though no one on the Aggie hoops forum listens to me when I correct them about rules/officiating. So do what you want.

Oh, and I don't have a clue what the NBA rule is. Probably depends on the shooter, official, game, defender, and TV ratings.

[This message has been edited by 91AggieLawyer (edited 5/4/2011 12:37a).]

The way I've always seen it in pickup games, you don't call it when someone gets your hand unless you're that guy that calls a foul every time he goes barrelling out of control into the lane. I'll defer to the lawyer on the official rule, but the "officiating" in pickup ball is loose by necessity.



I've been on the internet too long, it took a couple minutes to decide whether "loose" was the right word. And it still looks wrong.