The quick serve, a great novelty in the regulations of Spanish basketball

When the echo of an unforgettable Eurobasket still resonates, the Spanish competition returns this weekend with the Super Cup in Seville: on Saturday, the semifinals Betis-Real Madrid (18.30) and Barcelona-Joventut (21.30), and on Sunday the final (18.30).

And with the start of the ACB league next Wednesday.

The ball will bounce again with some changes in the regulations aimed at speeding up the game and making the matches shorter and more attractive for the spectator.

The main regulatory innovation is the establishment of the so-called quick ball kick.

The new figure assumes that a player will be able to take the ball from the touchline without the need for the referee to touch and retain it, although with some conditions to use this option: only when there is a violation of the rules of the game that is not a personal foul or technique, nor any of those that have to be reported to the scorer's table (that is, it would be used in the cases of steps, doubles, back field, three seconds in the zone...), in addition to actions such as a loss balloon;

when the action occurs at the back of the field, in the zone of the defending team;

and during the first 38 minutes of the match.

The quick serve cannot be executed in the last two minutes of the match nor in the last two of an extension when there is one.

In the case of a basket, for example, this type of serve cannot be applied, but the so-called standard serve will be made, with the touch or pass of the referee towards the player.

The serve in the defensive field, without the referee touching the ball, seems very successful to me.

Here's an example yesterday from Joventut.

pic.twitter.com/ehxmp0XAlR

– Marc Castillo (@Marc__Castillo) September 21, 2022

In order for the quick throw-in to take place, the offending player must immediately release the ball, and the ball will be put into play at the nearest point on the sideline.

The serving player may not move more than one meter or one step from that position.

The Instant Replay (review of an action on the screen) may not be requested in these cases of quick serve, and only the serving team, not the offender, may request a time-out or substitution in these situations.

The innovation was put on the table at last season's coaches' meeting and the ACB has had permission from FIBA ​​to give it the green light.

The ACB has also communicated variations regarding the situations in which video arbitration can be used, in order to avoid constant interruptions in the game.

The referees are reduced to seven (checking a basket, correcting a timing error, knowing if a shot is a two or a three, determining the author of a foul, pointing out an act of violence and determining whether a shot or a foul is in or out of time) the situations in which they can use Instant Replay on their own initiative during the first 38 minutes;

and only in the last two will they be able to go to the screen by their own decision to decide on other actions such as unsportsmanlike fouls, which in the previous year accumulated 37% of the reviews.

In addition, the coaches will be able to request the review of all these circumstances, and they will have two

(claim options) during the matches, and one in extra time.

The ACB calculates that last season it already reduced the games by an average of six and a half minutes due to the different novelties that it introduced in the regulations.

This next course hopes to increase this reduction even more, especially the unnecessary breaks during the meetings.

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