Tripped Or Tripping ...

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bucky

It isn't? Maybe it shouldn't be, but it frequently is...at least in the case I described whereby someone secures control of the ball while lying on the floor. Players routinely think it is OK to jump on someone because it is a "loose" ball or they were "playing the ball."

Anyway, I do have to somewhat agree with you Raymond.

Try another angle. A1 dives and secures the ball and is lying on the floor. B1, in a "natural defensive movement" attempts to approach A1 and trips on A1's foot. Is that to be deemed a foul on A1? Isn't lying on the floor an illegal position?

This is the type of play where making that blanket statement does not always fit and now interpretation of the case comes into play. Now, if they want to specify that lying on the floor is illegal in these specific instances, then officials know.

So how would you want the game to proceed in a basketball-like manner once a player dives and secures the ball? Is there a reasonable method by which that player can get off the floor with the ball without taking 2 steps? (I figure it's possible only if the player's feet were not touching the floor at or subsequent to the time s/he got possession.) Or is that player's only feasible option to try to pass the ball from that position?

The only game I can think of with a similar question is Rugby Union, in which a player is allowed to dive for the ball but is not allowed to remain on the ground with it or in its vicinity. The referee looks for whether the initial dive was a bona fide attempt to get the ball, whether the player stays on the ground with or near the ball to gain an advantage once there, and whether opposing players are preventing that player from getting up or crawling away from the ball. Unlike basketball, there's no "steps" provision, so the player on the ground with the ball may either pass it, leave it, or get up with it -- but there is an analogous "traveling" provision in that the player is not allowed to crawl with the ball.

Could basketball be construed similarly, with being on the floor with the ball as an illegal position only if the player remains there without trying to get rid of the ball? And being on the floor without the ball being illegal only if the player remains there to take advantage of that position?