Rules and regulations

Rules with no tactical home of their own: the clock, the counts, the timeouts. Every cell cites a rulebook.

All families · 9 terms · 0 full, 0 partial, 9 short

Backcourt count

The time a team has to bring the ball across the midcourt line; the count a press is built to run out.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Press, Press break, Shot clock

Court dimensions

The length and width of the playing court.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Three-point line, Free-throw lane

Defensive three seconds

The NBA rule that a defender in the lane must be guarding someone within three seconds; the reason a rim protector cannot simply stand under the basket.

defense · General · short · See also Help side, Low man, Verticality

Free-throw lane

Also: key, lane

How wide the painted lane is; the number behind the paint, the blocks and the elbows.

offense / defense · General · short · See also The paint, Block, Elbow

Free-throw line

How far the free-throw line is from the backboard; it fixes the nail and the elbows.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Nail, Elbow, Free-throw lane

Goaltending

Touching a shot on its way down, or off the backboard, while it can still score; the rule that limits what a rim protector may do.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Verticality, Restricted area

Length of the game

How long a game is and how it is divided; the one rule every other clock hangs on.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Shot clock, Late clock

Shot clock

The time a team has to attempt a shot that reaches the ring; the number that sets the pace of every possession.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Length of the game, 2-for-1, Late clock

Three-point line

How far the arc is from the basket, and how far the corner line is from the sideline; the geometry every spacing decision in Chapter 3 rests on.

offense / defense · General · short · See also Corner three, Spacing, Corner