Palming the ball

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle

Why wouldn't this be palming, assuming the dribbler continues to dribble? If one of the cases for a dribble ending is "The dribbler palms/carries the ball by allowing it to come to rest in one or both hands," it would seem logical to consider that the ball came to rest if the hand is on the bottom half of the ball and the ball moves horizontally? Maybe my thoughts are clouded a bit by some volleyball-ish thinking, but unless there is a clean "hit" (undoubtedly the wrong term) that changes the ball's direction, there would seem to be some measure of carrying the ball involved if the hand is below the equator on the ball when it's moving vertically and the direction of the ball changes significantly horizontally.

Can you legally tap the ball from beneath sideways during a dribble? Apparently not, according to what I read above.

Know what? I think some interpreter somewhere, or maybe someone teaching at a clinic or camp, decided to make his own personal contribution to officiating knowledge. His last gasp for refereeing glory per se. Some people seem do it every now and then for some reason- usually just to put their own stamp on something that hasn't changed in a million years--like palming.

The best direction the FED ever gave imo for calling "palming" was contained in a POE back in the 2000-01 rulebook.

PALMING: "Offensive players 'palming the ball continue to gain a tremendous advantage over defensive player(s). Emphasis is not only to be given to the dribbler's hand position, but also the activity of the ball while the dribble is occuring. 'Palming' not only occurs while the palm is facing 'skyward' but can also occur when the palm is facing the floor. The key to officiating this play consistently and correctly is to determine if the ball has come to rest".

That's why the palming definition is rule 4-15-4(b) is so simply described- "The dribbler palms/carries the ball by allowing it to come to rest in one or both hands".

Imo, that's all you need to know to make the call correctly. Forget about all the other gobbleygook people try to to use to tell you how to call it. It's a straight judgement call. If you feel that the ball came to rest, then the dribble ended. If the player then dribbles again, it's an illegal second dribble.