I was just watching the Golden State/Utah game, and I saw one of the Warriors chuck an inbounds pass straight at the basket. Monta Ellis leaped up for the alley-oop.
This immediately got me wondering: could Utah swat the ball away from the basket in this situation, or would it be called goaltending? What if the ball hit the backboard first?
Assuming the inbounds Warriors player hasn’t touched it first, it’s not goaltending. For goaltending to occur, there must be a chance to score, and you can’t score directly from an inbounds pass. The rules state that you can only score with a live ball from the playing area, an inbounds pass is a live ball from outside the playing area.
Correct, and technically, I believe it’s not a live ball until a player touches it (the clock doesn’t start until then).