Basketball, like any professional sport, is a game of rules. There are many things that are allowed, but there are many that aren’t as well. It is those restrictions that give the game structure and helped it get to where it is today.
To study that in greater detail, this article covers what a foul is in the game, and how they happen. Though infractions are something players and fans both dislike, they’re a key part of any sport. The following sections cover why.
A Foul by Any Other Name
As the name suggests, a foul in any sport refers to an infraction of the rules. In basketball, they occur when a player makes illegal contact with their opponent or when someone exhibits unsportsmanlike behavior. They lead to a stoppage of play and a specific type of penalty.
However, while there are plenty of different fouls out there, the term doesn’t refer to every illegal move. There are also violations, which are less serious infractions. Such moves are typically things that aren’t allowed that don’t involve contact with another player.
They include things like traveling, stepping over the line during an inbound pass, or spending too much time bringing the ball past half-court. Where fouls typically lead to free throws, violations are usually just a change of possession.
Violations also tend to happen to a single player, where fouls are things one person does to another. There are many ways to break the rules without contact. That’s the area where violations lie. They are much more tame, and come with less serious penalties.
A Foul Most Common
In basketball, there are three main types of fouls: common, flagrant, and technical. Common fouls occur throughout a game, and are anything that stops play without being too egregious.
They include shooting fouls, charges, reaching, blocking, and over the back. If a player runs, hits, or otherwise makes some type of illegal contact during play, it goes on the stat sheet as a common foul. Penalties then differ based on the severity and timing of the hit.
It’s also worth noting that if someone in the NBA ever incurs six common fouls in a single game (or five for college and high school players) they are ejected from the contest and not allowed to play for the rest of the game.
On top of that, common fouls either lead to free throws, an inbound pass and reset of the play clock, or a change in possession. If a player ever gets fouled while shooting, they get to take as many free throws as that shot would have been worth.
For example, a player shooting a layup would get two shots and a player shooting a three-pointer would get three. If a player gets fouled in the act of shooting and still makes the basket, they get a bonus free throw attempt on top of it. That is known as an “and-1.”
Should a player get fouled without shooting, such as while dribbling up the court or making a pass, they usually get to throw the ball in from out of bounds. In such cases, the play clock stays the same if it’s above 14 seconds, or it sets back to 14 seconds if it’s lower than that number.
The exception to that is what is known as the bonus. That refers to when one team passes a certain threshold by fouling the other a certain number of times.
If an NBA team ever gets five or more team fouls in a quarter, or if a college team gets seven or more in a half, the other team enters the bonus. The same is true if a team ever commits more than two fouls in the last two minutes of a half.
When a team enters the bonus, it means they get to take free throws on every single foul the opposing team commits regardless if they were shooting or not. That then resets when the current quarter or half comes to an end.
A Step Too Far
While players typically never go beyond common fouls, sometimes they cross the line. More egregious fouls are either known as technical or flagrant. Technical fouls are ones that violate the spirit of the game, while flagrants are much more violent occurrences.
Technical fouls always have to do with unsportsmanlike conduct. That includes things like yelling at the referee, throwing the ball into the stands, slamming the ball on the court, causing the delay of the game, or hanging on the rim for an extended period of time.
In contrast, flagrant fouls tend to do with extremely excessive contact. If a player undercuts somebody else, hits them too hard, or otherwise harms them in a way that’s much stronger or more viscous than a common foul, it counts as a flagrant.
While all technical fouls are the same, flagrants are broken down into flagrant 1 fouls and flagrant 2 fouls. Flagrant 1s are hard contact that goes beyond the spirit of the game. Flagrant 2s are the same, but much more dangerous. That includes blows to the head and neck.
If a player ever gets a flagrant 2, they are immediately ejected from the game and not allowed to return. The same penalty is given out if an athlete receives two flagrant 1s in a single game.
In either case, both flagrant and technical fouls give the player who got fouled two free throws and possession of the ball.
Final Words
Basketball is just as much about what you can do as it is about what you can’t. Fouls are pretty intuitive in and of themselves, but understanding each category is a bit trickier. There is a lot in the sport, and they all have different designations.
While players do their best to avoid illegal contact or moves, they do happen a lot in each contest. It’s simply the nature of the game. The league hopes to cut them down as time moves forward, but it’s a fine line to walk. They might slow things down, but they are necessary as well.
