# Official statistics questions



## Ballyhoo (May 30, 2003)

How does scoring work in the NBA? Not points, I mean how do assists, rebounds, turnovers, steals, etc. get awarded? Is there some rulebook that defines them, or is it up to an official scorer who watches the game?

For example, how would the following situations be scored?

Player A shoots an airball which lands out of bounds without touching anything. Is this considered a turnover?

Player A shoots an airball which player B from the opposing team catches under the basket. Is this a steal for player B, or a rebound, or nothing? Is it a turnover for player A?

Player A throws an errant pass to player B (same team), which player B dives for, but it glances off his outstretched fingertips and goes out of bounds. Is it a turnover for A or B?

Player A throws a good pass to player B, but player B is not paying attention, and the easily catchable pass goes out of bounds. Is this a turnover for A?


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

I think scoring assists is the most iffy stat there is. Didn't someone accuse somebody on the Lakers of padding Van Exel's assist numbers a couple years ago.

I would love to get a tape of Skiles' 30 assist game and see how legit that is.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> Player A shoots an airball which lands out of bounds without touching anything. Is this considered a turnover?


No.



> Player A shoots an airball which player B from the opposing team catches under the basket. Is this a steal for player B, or a rebound, or nothing? Is it a turnover for player A?


Rebound for player B, not a turnover for Player A




> Player A throws an errant pass to player B (same team), which player B dives for, but it glances off his outstretched fingertips and goes out of bounds. Is it a turnover for A or B?


A



> Player A throws a good pass to player B, but player B is not paying attention, and the easily catchable pass goes out of bounds. Is this a turnover for A?


Yes


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## Johnny Mac (May 6, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> Player A shoots an airball which lands out of bounds without touching anything. Is this considered a turnover?


That would be considered a "team rebound" 



> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> Player A shoots an airball which player B from the opposing team catches under the basket. Is this a steal for player B, or a rebound, or nothing? Is it a turnover for player A?


Its a rebound, as long as it was considered a shot attempt. 



> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> Player A throws an errant pass to player B (same team), which player B dives for, but it glances off his outstretched fingertips and goes out of bounds. Is it a turnover for A or B?


If B never had posession, than it will be called a bad pass and TO on player A 95% of the time. 



> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> Player A throws a good pass to player B, but player B is not paying attention, and the easily catchable pass goes out of bounds. Is this a turnover for A?


I believe it still is a turnover for A. If the guy is not paying attention, the guy who is throwing the pass should know this and not throw it. 

Hope that clears some stuff for you, I'm pretty sure all that is accurate. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## MJG (Jun 29, 2003)

I am not a rules expert in the least, but here's what I believe would happen in each circumstance:



> Originally posted by <b>Ballyhoo</b>!
> 
> Player A shoots an airball which lands out of bounds without touching anything. Is this considered a turnover?


Counts as a field goal attempt for the player and the opposing team gets a team rebound (counts towards the team's rebounding total but does not go to any specific player). It does not count as a turnover.



> Player A shoots an airball which player B from the opposing team catches under the basket. Is this a steal for player B, or a rebound, or nothing? Is it a turnover for player A?


Counts as a field goal attempt for A and a rebound for B. It does not count as a steal or a turnover.



> Player A throws an errant pass to player B (same team), which player B dives for, but it glances off his outstretched fingertips and goes out of bounds. Is it a turnover for A or B?





> Player A throws a good pass to player B, but player B is not paying attention, and the easily catchable pass goes out of bounds. Is this a turnover for A?


I believe this is generally a judgement call of the official scorekeeper. If he believes that the pass was not easily catchable (too high, behind the player, etc) then it is a turnover for A. If the pass could be caught by B without any real difficulty (IE diving, running jump, etc) then it is a turnover for B.

EDIT: I was beat to the answers by John, but we pretty much have the same stuff so I guess that means we're probably right


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

The assist question is based on the score keepers decision. It just depends on what they think of it.


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