About 3X3 - OFFICIAL RULES OF THE GAME

3x3 Official Rules of the Game

January 2016

The Official FIBA Basketball Rules of the Game are valid for all game situations not specifically mentioned in the 3x3 Rules of the Game herein.

Art. 1 Court and Ball

The game will be played on a 3x3 basketball court with 1 basket. A regular 3x3 court playing surface is 15m (width) x 11m (length). The court shall have a regular basketball playing court sized zone, including a free throw line (5.80m), a two point line (6.75m) and a “no-charge semi-circle” area underneath the one basket. Half a traditional basketball court may be used.

The official 3x3 ball shall be used in all categories.

Note: at grassroots level, 3x3 can be played anywhere; court markings – if any are used – shall be adapted to the available space

Art. 2 Teams

Each team shall consist of 4 players (3 players on the court and 1 substitute).

Note: No coach on the playground, no remote coaching from the bleacher is allowed

Art. 3 Game Officials

The game officials shall consist of 1 or 2 referees and time/score keepers.

Art. 4 Beginning of the Game

4.1. Both teams shall warm-up simultaneously prior to the game.

4.2. A coin flip shall determine which team gets the first possession. The team that wins the coin flip can either choose to benefit from the ball possession at the beginning of the game or at the beginning of a potential overtime.

4.3. The game must start with three players on the court.

Note: articles 4.3 and 6.4 apply to FIBA 3x3 Official Competitions* only (not mandatory for grassroots events).

*  FIBA  Official  Competitions  are  Olympic  Tournaments,  3x3  World  Championships  (incl.  U18),  Zone

Championships (incl. U18), the 3x3 World Tour and 3x3 All Stars

Art. 5 Scoring

5.1. Every shot inside the arc shall be awarded one 1 point.

5.2. Every shot behind the arc shall be awarded 2 points.

5.3. Every successful free throw shall be awarded 1 point.

Art. 6 Playing time/Winner of a Game

6.1. The regular playing time shall be as follows: one period of 10 minutes playing time. The clock shall be stopped during dead ball situations and free throws. The clock shall be restarted after the exchange of the ball is completed (as soon as it is in the offensive team’s hands).

6.2. However the first team which scores 21 points or more wins the game if it happens before the end of regular playing time. This rule applies to regular playing time only (not in a potential overtime).

6.3. If the score is tied at the end of playing time, an extra period of time will be played. There shall be an interval of 1 minute before the overtime starts. The first team to score 2 points in the overtime wins the game.

6.4. A team shall lose the game by forfeit if at the scheduled starting time the team is not present on the playing court with 3 players ready to play. In case of a forfeit, the game score is marked with w-0 or 0-w (“w” standing for win).

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6.5. A team shall lose by default if it leaves the court before the end of the game or all the players of the team are injured and/or disqualified. In case of a default situation, the winning team can choose to keep its score or have the game forfeited, whilst the defaulting team's score is set to 0 in any case.

6.6. A team losing by default or a tortuous forfeit will be disqualified from the competition.

Note: if a game clock is not available the running time’s length and/or required points for sudden death is at the organizer’s discretion. FIBA recommends setting the score limit in line with the game’s duration (10 minutes/10 points; 15 minutes/15 points; 21 minutes/21 points).

Art. 7 Fouls/Free throws

7.1. A team is in a penalty situation after it has committed 6 fouls. Players are not excluded based on the number of personal fouls subject to art. 15.

7.2. Fouls during the act of shooting inside the arc shall be awarded 1 free throw, whilst fouls during the act of shooting behind the arc shall be awarded 2 free throws.

7.3. Fouls during the act of shooting followed by a successful field goal shall be awarded 1 additional free throw.

7.4. Team fouls 7, 8 and 9 shall always be awarded with 2 free throws. The 10th and any subsequent team foul will be awarded with 2 free throws and ball possession. This clause is applied also to fouls during the act of shooting and overrules 7.2 and 7.3.

7.5. All technical fouls will be always awarded with 1 free throw and ball possession; whilst unsportsmanlike fouls will be awarded with 2 free throws and ball possession. The game shall continue with an exchange of the ball behind the arc at the top of the court after a technical or unsportsmanlike foul.

Note: no free throws are awarded after offensive foul.

Art. 8 How the Ball is played

8.1. Following each successful field goal or last free throw (except those followed by ball possession):

- A player from a non-scoring team will resume the game by dribbling or passing the ball from inside the court directly underneath the basket (not from behind the end line) to a place on the court behind the arc.

- The defensive team is not allowed to play for the ball in the “no-charge semi-circle area” underneath the basket.

8.2. Following each unsuccessful field goal or last free throw (except those followed by ball possession):

- If the offensive team rebounds the ball, it may continue to attempt to score without returning the ball behind the arc.

- If the defensive team rebounds the ball, it must return the ball behind the arc (by passing or dribbling).

8.3. If the defensive team steals or blocks the ball, it must return the ball behind the arc (by passing or dribbling)

8.4. Possession of the ball given to either team following any dead ball situation shall start with a check-ball, i.e. an exchange of the ball (between the defensive and the offensive player) behind the arc at the top of the court.

8.5. A player is considered to be “behind the arc” when neither of his feet are inside nor step the arc.

8.6. In the event of a jump ball situation, the defensive team shall be rewarded the ball.

Art. 9 Stalling

9.1. Stalling or failing to play actively (i.e. not attempting to score) shall be a violation.

9.2. If the court is equipped with a shot clock, a team must attempt a shot within 12 seconds. The clock shall start as soon as the ball is in the offensive players’ hands (following the exchange with the defensive player or after a successful field goal underneath the basket).

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9.3 It will consider a violation, if after the ball has been cleared an offensive player is dribbling inside the arc with the back or side to the basket for more than five seconds.

Note: If the court is not equipped with a shot clock and a team is not sufficiently trying to attack the basket, the referee shall give them a warning by counting the last 5 seconds.

Art. 10 Substitutions

Substitutions can be done by any team when the ball becomes dead, prior to the check-ball or free throw. The substitute can enter the game after his teammate steps off the court and establishes a physical contact with him. Substitutions can only take place behind the end line opposite the basket and substitutions require no action from the referees or table officials.

Art. 11 Time-outs

11.1. Each team is granted one team time-out. Any player can call the time-out in a dead ball situation.

11.2. In case of TV production, the organizer can decide to apply two TV time-outs that will be called at the first dead ball after respectively the game clock showing 6:59 and 3:59 in all games.

11.3. All time-outs have a length of 30 seconds.

Note: time-outs and substitutions can only be called in dead ball situations and cannot be called when the ball is live pursuant 8.1.

Art.12 Protest procedure

In case a team believes its interests have been adversely affected by a decision of an official or by any event that took place during a game, it must proceed in the following manner:

1.    A player of that team shall sign the score sheet immediately at the end of the game and before the referee signs it.

2.    Within 30 minutes, the team should present a written explanation of the case, as well as a security deposit of 200 USD to the Sports Director. If the protest is accepted, then the security deposit is refunded.

3.     Video materials may be used only to decide if a last shot for a field goal at the end of the game was released during playing time and/or whether that shot for a field goal counts for 1 or 2 points.

Art. 13 Standings of teams

Both in pools and in overall competition standings, the following classification rules apply. If teams that have reached the same stage of the competition are tied after the first step, refer to the next one – and so on.

1.    Most wins (or win ratio in case of unequal number of games in inter-pool comparison);

2.    Head-to-head confrontation (only taking win/loss into account and applies within a pool only);

3.    Most points scored in average (without considering winning scores of forfeits).

If teams are still tied after those three steps, the one(s) with the highest seeding win(s) the tie-breaker.

The standings of tours (whereas tours are defined as series of connected tournaments) will be calculated for the tours denominator, i.e. either players (if players can create new teams in every tournament) or teams (if players are bound to one team for the whole tour). Tour standings order:

i.       Standings in final event or prior to it, being actually qualified to tour final;

ii.       Ranking points collected for final standings at each tour stop;

iii.       Followed by 1, 2 and 3 above;

iv.       Seeding for tie-breaking purposes will be a tour seeding done simultaneously with each specific event seeding.

Note: Tour seedings are done with all the teams participating in a tour irrespectively if they play or do not play the next event.

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Art. 14 Seeding rules

Teams are seeded correlatively to the team ranking points (sum of the team’s 3 best players ranking points, prior to the competition). In case of a same team ranking points, seeding will be determined randomly prior to the competition start.

Note: In national-team competitions, seeding is done based on the 3x3 Federation Ranking.

Art. 15 Disqualification

A player committing 2 unsportsmanlike fouls (not applicable to technical fouls) will be disqualified from the game by the referees and may be disqualified from the event by the organizer. Independent thereof, the organizer will disqualify the player(s) concerned from the event for acts of violence, verbal or physical aggression, tortuous interference in game results, a violation of FIBA’s Anti-Doping rules (Book 4 of the FIBA Internal Regulations) or any other breach of the FIBA Code of Ethics (Book 1, Chapter II of the FIBA Internal Regulations). The organizer  may  also  disqualify  the  entire  team  from  the  event  depending  on  the  other  team  members' contribution (also through non-action) to the  aforementioned  behavior. FIBA's right to impose disciplinary sanctions under the regulatory framework of the event, the Terms and Conditions of 3x3planet.com and the FIBA Internal Regulations remains unaffected by any disqualification under this Article 15.

Art. 16 Adaption to U12 categories

The following adaptions to the rules are recommended in U12 categories:

1.    Insofar possible, the basket may be lowered to 2.60m.

2.    The first team to score in overtime wins the game.

3.     No shot clock is used; if a team is not sufficiently trying to attack the basket, the referee shall give them a warning by counting the last 5 seconds.

4.    Penalty situations are not applicable; hence fouls are followed by check-ball, except those in act of shooting, technical fouls and unsportsmanlike fouls.

5.    No time-outs are granted.

Note: The flexibility offered by the note of Art 6.to be discretionally applied as considered convenient.