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Originally Posted by BadNewsRef
The space between his hand and his heel would be considered "air", correct? 
It's still a situation in which is A1 has already begun his dribble and he touches the ball twice with either hand before it strikes the floor. That's what makes it an illegal dribble.
But as I asked before, how many of us would call a violation in this situation? I don't know that I would, especially with how fast the play happened. |
I disagree...."into the air" is not referring to the general dribble but a specific action of batting the ball upwards during a dribble. To fully grasp this, you must go back to the beginning of the game and follow how the rules changed. In the beginning, a player was only allowed to run if they were not holding the ball. There were no specifics on how they could move beyond just that they could not hold the ball. So, the dribble was "invented". Some clever chap figured out that he could do what was referred to as an "air dribble"...repeatedly batting the ball up without ever letting it hit the floor. This was ultimately viewed as unfair and it led the to rule requiring that the ball hit the floor after being batted the ball into the air. So, a player dribbling down the floor, can still, if they so wish, bat the ball upwards with the hand under the ball as long as it hits the floor before the next dribble.
Assuming my assertion is true leads to the implication that there is nothing in the rule that categorically prohibits touching the ball with both hands on the same dribble. The rules only prohibit touching the ball with both hands simultaneously (ends the dribble). It would be legal for a player to push the ball towards the floor with one hand and then deflect the ball with the other hand as long as both hands were both in contact with the ball at the same time.
As for this case, I'm calling it an interrupted dribble if there is any question. It was only a matter of luck that it came to a position where he could continue the dribble. The interruption was very short but it did deflect off the dribbler (just to a convenient position).