Tonight, we had a game where a ref came over to my assistant and explained advantage-disadvantage, from his perspective. We are team A, A1 steals ball at free throw line, guard A2 breaks right away, pass is made while B1 appears to foul A1 with A1 crashing to court, ball bounces out to A2 for easy layup. My assistant is beside himself wanting the foul as soon as A1 crashes (while I try to shut him up and point out that we're getting an easy layup). Asst is still perplexed as to how all that contact didn't result in a foul, even though we "got lucky" and ended up with a layup.
At halftime, the ref said he saw contact and, had we lost the ball, he would have called the foul. But he saw A2 getting an easy bucket and passed on the foul, choosing to rule it incidental.
I like this non-call. I am an old soccer player/coach where advantage is an official part of the rules and "play on" a frequent call. Defenders must either dispossess the offensive player or take them out of a clear opportunity for the call to be made and a free kick awarded. But in basketball, usually you see the foul called regardless of the effect it has on offensive advantage (defenders grabbing at dribblers to get a foul "on the floor" when they have been beaten or hammering a player while he is making an outlet to a teammate all alone down court). How do you guys call this type of play?
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