Who's watching the screener

[Jake80]

I had a situation the other day that I was unsure who had responsibility to watch. 2-person game. It seems the offensive team was moving the ball to one wing and running the other wing off a screener at the free throw line. Opposing coach was yelling early and often for an illegal screen. Now defense was very aggresive so trail was watching action as the dribbler moved the ball to the wing. Lots of action underneath so lead is watching that. Who should be watching the screen at the free throw line? I told the coach I would try to watch the screen and the couple of times I did the screener was moving but no contact occurred. So, no contact no foul even though the screener did cause the defense to go wide and thus the offensive team gained an advantage. Any suggestions would be appreciated and no we are not allowed to have another official (which is what I would prefer).

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Jake80
I told the coach I would try to watch the screen and the couple of times I did the screener was moving but no contact occurred. So, no contact no foul even though the screener did cause the defense to go wide and thus the offensive team gained an advantage.

This is just good basketball. No contact, no foul, is exactly correct. The only illegal moving screen is the moving screener moves to make contact. Screens can move legally all night, as long as they aren't making contact. I'd say you did a pretty good job of covering the area. If you were missing something, you'd have seen a body on the floor sooner or later.

[zebraman]

I agree that it's more difficult in two-person. However, the lead is going to have to be watching that pick if the trail is on ball. If the offense is trying to rub off a pick at the foul line, that is probably the most competitive matchup. I'm not sure I completely understand the whole picture from your description, but it sounds as if they were trying to free the screener down the lane so I can't imagine that there would be "that much action" underneath because a post-up would ruin the cutter's lane.

Regardless, if you didn't pre-game this, you could have got together with your partner at the first opportunity and talked about it on the floor.

In two-person, the trail can't just be watching the ball matchup and nothing else. You have to ref "one play ahead" as well.

K

[nine01c]

Sounds like this was one of the many coaches who thinks that a "moving screen" is a foul when NO contact occurs. Sadly, there are some referees who agree.
You have a good feel for the play they are running, and the Lead is likely to see the "push", "elbows" or "hold," if any of these occur.