[BillyMac]

Situation A: Team A prepares to make a "run the endline throwin". Only two Team A players are in the backcourt, A1, standing out of bounds, with the ball, and A2, standing inbounds, on the weak side, below the bottom lane space block, just a few inches off the endline. A1 releases a pass to A2 and B1 crosses the endline to knock away the pass. What's the call? I'm sure that we would all agree that this is a legal defensive play since the inbounds pass had already been released.

Situation B: Team A prepares to make a "run the endline throwin". Only two Team A players are in the backcourt, A1, standing out of bounds, with the ball, and A2, standing out of bounds, on the weak side. A1 releases a pass to A2 and B1 crosses the endline to knock away the pass. What's the call? I'm sure that we would all agree that B1 would be charged with a technical foul, with no warning, for crossing the endline and touching the ball before the inbounds pass had already been released. And, of course, the technical foul would also "count" as a warning for any further delay of game situations.

Now the fun starts.

Situation C: Team A prepares to make a "run the endline throwin". Only three Team A players are in the backcourt, A1, standing out of bounds, with the ball; A2, standing out of bounds, on the weak side (A2 arrived in this position after his momentum, while defending a Team B player, took him out of bounds); and A3, standing inbounds, on the weak side, below the bottom lane space block, just a few inches off the endline, and just a few inches away from A2, who is on the other, out of bounds side, of the endline. A1 releases a pass, in the general direction of both A2, and A3, and B1 crosses the endline to knock away the pass. What's the call?