archived as http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/Basketball_05.doc (also …Basketball_05.pdf) => doc pdf URL-doc URL-pdf more sports-related articles are on the /Sports.htm page at doc pdf URL Basketball's "Unwritten" Rules [StealthSkater note: There are formal written rules as to how Basketball games are played. But there also exists "unwritten rules" regarding etiquette etc. I found that these are not as spelled out as much as in Baseball (e.g., see => doc pdf URL ). Nonetheless, here is what I found ...] 1. If your team is winning at the end of a game, don't take a shot at the buzzer. It makes you look cocky and is a sign of disrespect to the other team. This is just considered unsportsmanlike. Usually at the end of a lopsided game if the winning team has the ball for the last possession, the losing team won’t even bother to guard the offensive players. This is a sign that the losing team has conceded the game. At this time, the player with the ball should just dribble the ball and run out the clock 2. Usually players shake hands, hug, etc. after the game. They know that the NBA is just a brotherhood of players. Even if 2 players get in a scuffle during the game, it usually isn't meant with hard feelings after the game. 3. If one of your teammates gets in a scuffle, you should stand up for that player. Stand your ground in a way that it won’t escalate the problem. Most players know their teammates have their back. But actions like these speak louder than words. 4. No one should be happy if anyone goes down with an injury despite that it would change the complexion of the game (for better or worse). Every player should want to defeat the other team in a fair and ethical manner. Still, don’t give any handicap to the injured team. The injured is not the only one playing so give respect. 5. Being respectful when losing. It is easy for anyone to get mad, blame the refs, blame your teammates. It is hard to recognize that the other team just outplayed you; your team made mental mistakes; etc. 6. After a free throw attempt, you must make a quick tap to your teammates. Not doing this makes you cocky and not adhering to the tap would hang your player. Not cool. 7. Always offer an immediate hand to a teammate down. Can also include opposing players as it’s a good sign of sportsmanship. 8. Garbage time is garbage time. Anything you do in this futile last minutes/seconds are just to pad your stats with garbage stats. It’s also makes you look cocky and opportunistic. For example, a player shouldn’t shoot threes late in a game where his team is up big just so he can beat the record for the most threes in a game. A player shouldn’t intentionally miss a shot so he can get the rebound a have a triple-double for the game. A player shouldn’t pass up wide open 1 shots because he trying to break an assists record. These are examples of padding your stats intentionally. 9. Reconcile with the opposing teams after the game ended. You may be enemies in the court. But outside it, at least respect each other for playing the game you love. 10. Don’t leave a man hanging for a high-five. Especially after an and-one basket. It’s the “Westbrook rule”. 11. The bench is the unofficial first layer of cheering squads of your team. On or off the bench, you must do everything in your power to help your team. Even showing signs of encouragement to the players on the court makes a difference. 12. Never press a team that you are beating soundly. Even if you are a team that likes to run the full-court press, you should not do it when the game is strongly in your favor. It is just not proper to do. 13. Lane violations don’t exist. When a free throw shooter is attempting his foul shot, it doesn’t really matter if the other players on the floor are standing still outside the paint (like they’re supposed to) or not. As long as they don’t jump all the way into the center of the lane and do the Macarena, they’re not going to be whistled for a lane violation. On a normal free-throw rebound attempt, more than half of the players move early to get into position. It’s just accepted at this point. 14. When in doubt, run an ‘iso.’ The single most used play in professional basketball has to be an isolation whether by necessity because there are no other good offensive options or by design. If you want to be an NBA coach, just get a good wing scorer or post player, tell your point guard to throw the ball to them as soon as it crosses half-court, and then instruct the 4 players on the floor that don’t have the ball to get as far out of the way as possible. (That is, until it’s time to go rebound the isolated player’s tough pull-up miss.) 15. Foul anyone hard that you want to except a superstar. Feel free to take a hard foul on Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao if it will keep him from getting an easy basket, if you want to make point, or if you’re trying to stop the clock. But don’t you dare commit the same foul on Cavaliers forward LeBron James unless you want to risk a flagrant foul, ejection, or perhaps even banishment from the league. (Okay, maybe not banishment. Well, probably not.) 14. 4 steps equals a travel. The textbook definition of “traveling violation” (i.e., 2 steps) is completely irrelevant in the modern NBA and everyone from coaches to players to media to fans knows it. The only “travel” usually associated with pro basketball at this point is the first-class jet ride from one major city to the next on a rodeo/Grammys/circus/insert-arena-conflict-here road trip. If a player doesn’t take a minimum of four steps, the referee is going to swallow his whistle and let the Eurostep/layup approach/Sportscenter-worthy move go with no turnover. 15. Don’t bother playing defense until… There are 2 variations to the “defense-optional” unwritten rule. The first is that playing defense isn’t really required until the last 5 minutes-or-so of an NBA game. After all, the game’s outcome will still usually be in doubt at that point. And players grinding through an 82-game marathon season with back-to-backs galore most definitely understand that defensive effort can be rationed and saved until it really matters at crunch time. The second variation is that defense in the entire regular season is overrated. Watch a lockdown defender deny the ball or body up a post player in April and then ask yourself where that 2 was in October or December or February. NBA players are capable of playing stifling defense. They just don’t usually bother to do so until it really matters. 16. Don’t make a game-deciding call unless it is PAINFULLY obvious. If there is a game on the line and the referee is considering single-handedly altering who gets the “W” and who gets the “L”, the violation better be PAINFULLY obvious. Otherwise history will tell the story of a referee, not the player. And nobody wants that. If there’s only a slight amount of time left on the clock, figurative murder has to happen for a foul to be called. Hell, the wiggle room given to players and coaches as far as a technical foul is concerned is so massive that Rick Pitino can theoretically DDT an official. But he’d be given a free pass since it wasn’t a Rocker Dropper. 17. Any assessed charging call is voided if the defender is posterized. Sacrificing your body is a noble deed. Standing in front of a freight train barreling down the lane is not for the faint of heart. And anyone who is willing to risk sharp pain and embarrassment for the sake of the team is a man greater than I. However, there is a time and place to take a charge or challenge an opponent at the rim. If you choose poorly, your shame will be forever be looped on the Internet. And in extreme cases, side effects may include having your last name become a derogatory verb (Mozgov’d). Simply put: If you get dunked on, all offensive fouls are disregarded. 18. No technical fouls should be assessed for trash talk. Ever. If players are involved in a verbal skirmish, do NOT break it up. Let them settle their differences like men. Let them get in each other’s faces and hurl slurs at each other like B Rabbit standing in front of Papa Doc in 8 Mile. I understand that the NBA does not to promote hostility/violence. But if the NHL allows players to fight AND have referees stand there as observers while it happens, there is absolutely NO reason why basketball players can’t so much as get in each other’s faces without penalty. 19. No technical fouls should be assessed for emotional outbursts in the 4th quarter. Ever. (HEAVEN FORBID a player show emotion in the middle of a crucial game.) If it’s the NBA Finals, is a ref really going to influence history, potentially cost players millions in bonuses and take the trophy out of a team’s hands because some dude slammed a ball off the floor during a dead ball timeout or disagreed with his opinion? Delaying the game or excessive insubordination is another thing.