It Wasn't Goaltending

Not sure why the sports blogosphere is suddenly buzzing about the alleged goaltending at the end of Game 2.

I've dug up the NBA rules on goaltending. Here are the sections that apply to last night's controversial ending to the Lakers/Magic game.

Section I-A Player Shall Not:
a. Touch the ball or the basket ring when the ball is using the basket ring as its lower base.

i. Vibrate the rim or backboard so as to cause the ball to make an unnatural bounce.

Pau Gasol clearly touches the basket ring but the ball is no where near the rim at the time. And he did not vibrate the rim enough to cause an unnatural bounce.

In other words, you need to do a little more than just touch the rim. If you don't believe me, ESPN's Chris Sheridan had this piece of information...this morning. I guess no one reads ESPN.com.

We can't help the folks in central Florida resolve that first problem, but we can give you the official answer on the second. NBA supervisor of officials Bernie Fryer told ESPN.com that if Gasol's hand had shaken the basket, caused the stanchion to move or touched the rim while the ball was on the rim, the correct call would have been goaltending.

But since none of those things happened, according to Fryer, "It was a cut-and-dried no-call."