Finally, someone who agrees with me! Jeff Van Gundy is right: if you bank in a three, and you do any sort of celebration implying that you have skill in making three-pointers, you should get a technical.
However, that doesn’t go far enough. In my opinion (which is basically fact at this point, considering how many times I’ve been right [at least a million] and how many times I’ve been wrong [one, when I believed that Jennifer really loved me]), a banked-in three should count as a turnover and no points should be awarded.
The backboard itself is a historical anomaly, supposedly installed to prevent opposing fans sitting in the balcony of the dance halls where the game was originally played from knocking shots away with arms/canes/other implements. I don’t know why they couldn’t just count a bucket if it was interfered with by a fan, but apparently that was too hard, so they installed a backboard. But it was never intended that players USE that backboard to help them make shots.
The time of fans being able to interfere with shots is long past, and the backboard should probably be removed. But if the NBA insists on keeping it for historical reasons, the least they could do is make it so that any jumper that unintentionally connects with it does not count. I’m not about to take away all of Tim Duncan’s off-the-glass elbow jumpers, but what Nunn did tonight, it’s inexcusable that a professional league would allow that to happen.