In defiance of the laws of physics
 

The physics of this dunk make no sense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/s...spurs-nba.html

The ball went through the hoop. The net pushed it back out, but it was valid dunk and the point should of been awarded.

How can a ball thrown down with that much force be pushed back up and out by the net???

Couldn't read the linked article - Paywall...

But this video has the slow motion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlAkIarPbzI

Looks like he dunked it at just the right angle for the net to slow it up as the net wrapped upwards around the rim. Pretty crazy, and the refs blew that call.

Jalen Rose had a great point yesterday - he said that if this can happen then the nets are too long.

If the ball was actually flipped up in front of the rim and rattled around and went through the hoop a second time, would it be counted as a 4 point dunk?

I’m willing to bet there isn’t a rule addressing this unlikely scenario.

After a team scores a field goal the other team gets to inbound the ball. The second basket would not count since the team did not get possession.

Harden’s basket didn’t count the first time, so if it went in a second time it should be worth at least two.:D:D:D

Adam, you can’t make this stuff up, but I can.:p

I still don't get the physics. That ball surely had significant downward momentum. It reacted as though it had hit the floor.

It wasn't a completely vertical dunk. The ball had significant downward momentum, but also significant horizontal momentum as well. If you look at it in slow motion, it looks like it also grazed the rim, giving it even more misdirected horizontal momentum. Without getting into the actual physics, think wave motion. Similar to when you have 2 people hold each end of the rope (net) and one whips the rope down. The 'whipper' gets a reaction when the wave comes back from the opposite stationary point (rim). I think the 'grazing' may have also had an impact in starting or at least contributing to the the 'wave' action of the net.

funny when i try to dunk...gravity works just fine and i barely have a 1 inch vertical and the net is left alone to works its wonder..

it looked to me the ball went around the hoop on the way up (not through the hoop but around) but maybe just an optical illusion

Thanks. Interesting. Still, I would bet if Harden tried it 100 times or more he couldn't duplicate it.

No, but he might get 98 foul calls instead. It's why I don't feel too bad about him getting stiffed on that basket. I think he got like 24 free throws in that game and likely whined about not getting even more.

I'm sure the refs handed back those two points to him at some point in time.

If the ball got stuck in the net, what would the ruling be?

It appears from the replays I saw the net flip the ball up out and around the cylinder and due to the spin and force dropped the ball back on top of the rim. Two reasons why I think that... One on the replays as the ball is coming up out of the cylinder the rim behind it is blocked. If the ball had rebounded out from inside you would be able to see front of the rim. The second reason is that the net also comes up and is folded over the top of the rim from the front which it could not do if the net flipped back up from the inside....

IMHO NBA blew this one big time....