[APG]

Originally Posted by BryanV21

My understanding of the rule is that the defender must move in the same direction and at the same speed as the offensive player. The defensive player clearly moves sideways and at a slower pace than the offensive player.

To say it another way, should the offensive player move laterally slower? Is the fact that he's moving quicker than the defender his fault?

Both the offensive and defensive player have the right to move to that spot on the floor. And you can't tell me the defender wasn't moving sideways on that play. In fact, he almost seems to "belly up" the offensive player, thus creating the initial contact.

If the offensive player was running straight at the defender, that's another story, but in this case there was lateral movement.

Where did you hear this speed requirement? I don't think there's a rule set that requires an opponent with a legal position to maintain any type of speed comparable with the opponent. Now the speed of the opponent may dictate how much space/strides/steps one may have to give before he is legal, but if he's legal already, then he's good to go. Perhaps you're confusing this rule with something else?