Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick has been in the news over the last few days after earning praise from the legendary Pat Riley. However, the “fiery guy” also garnered the referee’s attention when he attempted to make his point after a no-call in the most physical way possible. He was hit with a technical foul as his team fell to an 111-89 blowout loss to the Boston Celtics last night. After openly calling out the refs, though, Redick reveals details from a behind-the-scenes chat.

“I talked with Monty [McCutchen] this morning, got some great explanations on some stuff that I had questions on, and truthfully, like he said, it wasn’t a goaltend,” Redick said of his chat with the SVP of Referee Development and Training. “I don’t know that we want to endanger our guy’s fingers, but it is like if I was Luke Kornet or Wemby, every time somebody took a shot, I’d stick my hand up in the rim and just not jostle it because I think it’s I think it’s an incredible deterrent.”

The Lakers coach further elaborated on the clarification he received from McCutchen, approaching the explanation with an open mind

“It’s a new thing for me to learn, and that’s the beauty of this job, you learn something new every day,” Redick said. “Yeah, you’re allowed to stick your hand up into the rim on a shot, just as long as the rim wasn’t jostled, so I guess there is some subjectivity to it, but as long as like the rim’s not pulled down, I guess, yeah, you can jostle the rim. That’s the explanation I got.”

The incident occurred in the third quarter when the Celtics center Neemias Queta contested a jump hook by Deandre Ayton and stuck his hand through the net. Ayton missed the shot, which rimmed out on the right side, but no goaltending or basket interference violation was called despite Redick’s protests.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

Despite this incident, the Lakers couldn’t prevent a loss to the high-flying Celtics. MVP-candidate Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard dropped a combined 60+ points on the home team. Queta himself finished with 10 points (4 of 5 FG), 12 rebounds, one assist, and three blocks in 26 minutes.

LeBron James and Co. remain the fifth seed in the West with a 34-22 record and will look to get back to winning ways when they play the Orlando Magic tomorrow night.

Let’s dive deeper into the Redick incident, though.

NBA Rule No. 11 explained in detail after JJ Redick’s clarification

League rules prohibit touching the rim or basket while the ball is on its downward flight toward the basket if it affects the shot.

Rule No. 11 Section I-h states, a player shall not “vibrate the rim, net or backboard so as to cause the ball to make an unnatural bounce, or bend or move the rim to an off-center position when the ball is touching the ring or passing through.”

Section I-i of the same rule states, a player shall not “touch the rim, net or ball while the ball is in the net, preventing it from clearing the basket.”

As McCutchen already clarified via JJ Redick, light jostling is permitted, but reaching through to affect the shot typically draws a whistle. As per our research, there are no documented historical examples of a player being called for a foul for legally sticking their hand through the rim to block a shot.

On the contrary, the most recent instance of referees completely missing a goaltending call occurred earlier this January. The Golden State Warriors were at the Intuit Dome, and Steve Kerr was ejected after a second technical foul after he lost his mind over a Gary Payton shot that touched the backboard before being swatted away by John Collins. After the game, though, crew chief Brian Forte admitted they missed the call.

However, the Queta play on Sunday sparked debate as the first prominent recent instance of its kind. After the referee’s decision that no violation occurred, this should set a precedent for what would happen if it happened again. It was clear that the rim stabilized, and there was no ball contact, which didn’t alter Ayton’s miss.