Quote:
Originally Posted by Juulie Downs
Ball's in transition, near the back of the pack of players, dribbler not moving very quickly down the court. Defender B1 is running straight forward to get to her "spot" (zone defense). Dribbler A1 is behind and to the left of B1. Dribbler sees a clear path to the basket, and takes off full tilt, cutting off B1, the momentum of B1 just innocently running down the court knocks A1 over. Partner called block. Is that right?
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Correct. This is a guarding situation, even if B1 didn't know they were guarding. This is NOT screening action and isn't subject to screening rules.
B1 didn't have LGP and was moving at the time of contact. B1 doesn't have the right to be moving at the time of contact unless B1 was leading in the same path/direction (and that does seem to be the case from your description). Plus, it sounds like A1 got head/shoulder by B1...also putting the primary responsibility for the contact on B1.
If it were any other way, a defender could always establish a path across a dribbler's path that would intersect with contact and argue that they couldn't be guilty of a block since they weren't given time/distance to avoid the contact.
A1 got to the spot first and is not required to give a defender time/distance in getting to a defensive position.