Lots of Magic fans and the media in general have been hatin'. They've been saying how the officials are horrible and how they missed the call on the last play of regulation that Pau Gasol's touching of the rim should have been called for a goaltending (and this is sports newscasters as well). I'm here to show you how uneducated and how little research they've done about the NBA rules.

First off let's take a look at the video:

The newcaster claims that you "can't hit the rim like that". Here's why that's bullshit. Let's take whoop out the old NBA rule book on goaltending:

RULE NO. 11-BASKETBALL INTERFERENCE-GOALTENDING

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.
EXCEPTION: If a player near his own basket has his hand legally in contact with the ball, it is not a violation if his contact with the ball continues after the ball enters the cylinder, or if, in such action, he touches the basket.
b. Touch the ball when it is above the basket ring and within the imaginary cylinder.
c. For goaltending to occur, the ball, in the judgment of the official, must have a chance to score.
d. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball after it has touched any part of the backboard above ring level, whether the ball is considered on its upward or downward flight.
e. During a field goal attempt, touch a ball after it has touched the backboard below the ring level and while the ball is on its upward flight.
f. Trap the ball against the face of the backboard. (To be a trapped ball, three elements must exist simultaneously. The hand, the ball and the backboard must all occur at the same time. A batted ball against the backboard is not a trapped ball.)
g. Touch any live ball from within the playing area that is on its downward flight with an opportunity to touch the basket ring. This is considered to be a "field goal attempt" or trying for a goal.
h. Touch the ball at any time with a hand which is through the basket ring.
i. Vibrate the rim or backboard so as to cause the ball to make an unnatural bounce.

Pau Gasol didn't touch the ball on that play, he merely touched the rim. Therefore the parts of the rule in play are part c and part i. According to part c, in order for it to be goaltending, the official needs to have thought that the ball had a chance of going in, which even Magic fans will agree did not. According to part i, which is the only part that concerns a player touching the rim rather than the ball during a shot, the player must have vibrated the rim or backboard to cause an unnatural bounce.

Clearly this is not the case. In fact Pau Gasol touched the rim before the ball even hit the rim, it didn't cause the rim or backboard to bounce, and it certainly did not cause any extra bounce, natural or unnatural on the ball. The time he touched the rim and the time the ball went to the rim were completely different times. Therefore, it is clearly not a goaltend. The sportscaster in the video is mentally retarded. All fans (whether Magic or not) who think that this was a goaltend are uneducated and mentally retarded.

Now, a play that was a goaltend was Dwight Howard's reach through the net to block Pau. But I won't discuss that.