This happens all the time in the playground, and it can throw off your shot. Can you do it in the NBA? I believe you can not do this at the free-throw line but have never heard it addressed for active play.
Before you jump all over me for this question, consider the following: In golf, players detest a yell right as they putt. Silence is mandatory. In tennis, the umpire tells the crowd to be quite, particularly during the service. In fact, in the Australian Open fourth-seeded Del Porto complained on more than one occasion that a man shouting from the stands through off his game. In other matches, players have complained/missed shots because of a whistle from the audience at the moment of serve.
Now the NBA is a little different in that the crowd is generally noisy. As a result, even though noisy, the noise is CONSTANT. Such constant background noise will not bother a player. It is the sudden change from silence to a loud noise that will throw off an athlete. For example, if you are jogging past a backyard that has a dog with a loud bark, it will startle you EVEN if you are expecting it. This is why fans raising their voices to distract a free-throw shooter does no good. The noise is constant. However, if the fans would be silent and then explode into noise just a the shooter goes into his shooting motion, it may have an effect. In that same vein, I think if a fan blew an air horn right behind the basket just as a player was about to shoot a free throw the players would complain.
So if you are guarding a player and yell LOUD into his face just prior to the release of his shot, I contend it may throw off his shot. You see it all the time in the playground, so many think it is effective. But is it legal? Comments?
Before you jump all over me for this question, consider the following: In golf, players detest a yell right as they putt. Silence is mandatory. In tennis, the umpire tells the crowd to be quite, particularly during the service. In fact, in the Australian Open fourth-seeded Del Porto complained on more than one occasion that a man shouting from the stands through off his game. In other matches, players have complained/missed shots because of a whistle from the audience at the moment of serve.
Now the NBA is a little different in that the crowd is generally noisy. As a result, even though noisy, the noise is CONSTANT. Such constant background noise will not bother a player. It is the sudden change from silence to a loud noise that will throw off an athlete. For example, if you are jogging past a backyard that has a dog with a loud bark, it will startle you EVEN if you are expecting it. This is why fans raising their voices to distract a free-throw shooter does no good. The noise is constant. However, if the fans would be silent and then explode into noise just a the shooter goes into his shooting motion, it may have an effect. In that same vein, I think if a fan blew an air horn right behind the basket just as a player was about to shoot a free throw the players would complain.
So if you are guarding a player and yell LOUD into his face just prior to the release of his shot, I contend it may throw off his shot. You see it all the time in the playground, so many think it is effective. But is it legal? Comments?
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