# Basketball Question regarding ball direction **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** basketball-nba\ **Created:** [November 19, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183 "2022-11-19T04:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/1 "2022-11-19T04:44:02Z")
I think this is my first sports question on this message board, and I am probably an idiot for asking…so let’s do it! If a ball is thrown _up_ through the hoop then comes back down through the hoop, are points scored? Also, has this ever happened in an NBA game? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/2 "2022-11-19T04:59:48Z")
According to [this](https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/1657/if-the-basketball-goes-through-bottom-of-rim-and-re-enters-is-it-a-basket), it’s a violation and a dead ball change of possession to the other team. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/3 "2022-11-19T05:09:04Z")
How often does it happen in professional play? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/4 "2022-11-19T05:42:25Z")
I haven’t been able to find any actual occurrence of the ball going through from the bottom and then back down through the net normally in any professional or college game. That’s not to say that it’s never happened. Just that my Google-fu may not be up to the job. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/5 "2022-11-19T15:10:16Z")
It seems to me that throwing the ball up through the hoop from below _should_ be worth negative two points, or zero total if it comes back down through the hoop. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/6 "2022-11-19T15:15:03Z")
That could be an intersting change to the game. If you shoot a basket and score, but do so with the opposing team’s basket, they get the points. So, if they implemented your rule, then a strategy would be to take away points from the other team by throwing the ball up through the opponent’s hoop. Not sure how it would work out, and I’m sure there are a whole plethora of reasons why they don’t do it that way, but it would be an interesting twist. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/7 "2022-11-19T19:47:38Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I haven’t been able to find any actual occurrence of the ball going through from the bottom and then back down through the net normally in any professional or college game. Many years ago, in a college game I was watching on TV, I saw the ball go through from the bottom, on a deflected pass, but it was at an angle and didn’t come back down through from the top. I don’t think a whistle blew, and play continued as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/8 "2023-03-24T22:05:35Z")
I saw it happen once. Ball-handler drives and gets fouled so he just throws it up to make it a shooting foul while he was under the basket. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basketball-question-regarding-ball-direction/975183/9 "2023-03-27T19:31:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If a ball is thrown _up_ through the hoop then comes back down through the hoop, are points scored? No - not at any level that I am aware of. Certainly not at NBA, NCAA, or high school levels, where I have access to the rule books.