Intentional Foul

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

... coaches would teach players how to do the foulathon thing to make sure the foul gets called and they don't get hit with an INT.

Agree. Sometimes the defensive player is too "shy" to "reach in" and make real contact (and sometimes they're too aggressive).

When a team, ahead late in the game, wants to just play "keep away" and doesn't want to shoot free throws, this can make difficult decisions for officials on "touch" contact that we would normally ignore as incidental earlier in the game.

To call a "touch" foul in this situation (that we would not have called earlier in the game) would give an advantage not intended by rule to the team behind.

When the team ahead is willing to just take the free throws, we can call the "touch" foul immediately when contact occurs so the ball handler doesn't get hit harder to draw a whistle (creating end of game game management problems).

Officials also have to give the defense a chance to steal the ball before a quick whistle on contact.

In situations like this, if I'm near the losing team coming out of their huddle after timeout, I'll remind then to, "Go for the ball".

This is why basketball officials get paid the big bucks.