fouling out in basketball.

[vandal]

So I’m watching the NBA playoffs, and as with any other team that goes up against the Lakers, their strategy is to keep fouling Shaq. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But what I was wondering is this…

Since each player is alloted 6 fouls in a 4 quarter game, what would happen if 10 of their players were all fouled out? The opposing team would only be left with 4 players (granted there are 14 total players on their team). Would they be able to play with only 4 players? If so, what if those 4 players were also fouled out?

Would the opposing team be forced to forfeit the game? I realize that this is an extreme case scenario, but, I mean, the NBA must have a contingency for this.

[Lance_Turbo]

In this scenario the fouling team would have to play short handed. Which would probably do them about as much good as a forfeit.

[BobT]

In the NBA, once you only have five players left and one of them picks up his sixth foul, the player gets to stay in the game, but the opponents get to shoot a technical free throw in addition to the foul.

In college basketball, you leave after five fouls, no exceptions. If everybody fouls out, that’s it, you lose by forfeit.

There have been some cases in lower division basketball where teams have played shorthanded and Sports Illustrated once ran a story about a guy on a team (I think it was for UC Santa Cruz) who had to play single-handed for a few minutes. The big problem was taking the ball out of bounds after the other team scored.

[BobT]

Here are the relevant sections from the official NBA rules

a. Each team shall consist of five players. No team may be reduced to less than five players. If a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, said player shall remain in the game and shall be charged with a personal and team foul. A technical foul also shall be assessed against his team. All subsequent personal fouls, including offensive fouls, shall be treated similarly. All players who have six or more personal fouls and remain in the game shall be treated similarly.
b. In the event that there are only five eligible players remaining and one of these players is injured and must leave the game or is ejected, he must be replaced by the last player who was disqualified by reason of receiving six personal fouls. Each subsequent requirement to replace an injured or ejected player will be treated in this inverse order. Any such re-entry into a game by a disqualified player shall be penalized by a technical foul.