closely guarded

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Ref Daddy
The count ends when the offense "beats" the defender by "getting their head and shoulders past the defender".

Say your burning some clock. Guards are moving parallel with division line but close to a team really wanting the ball.

Is "head and shoulders" realitive to
1) the basket?
2) the direction of the player? [/B]

It's relative to the direction of the player. The rules citation- R10-6-2- sez "If a dribbler ,without contact, sufficiently passes an opponent to have head and shoulders in advance in advance of that opponent, the greater responsibility for subsequent contact is on the defender" Case book play 4.23.3SitA spells out the same concept. It relates solely to the path that dribbler is taking, and that path doesn't have to be towards the basket.

The count does end in this case also because the defender lost LGP when the dribbler got by him. The definition of guarding in R4-23-1 sez that guarding is "legally placing the body in the path of an offensive opponent". If you're illegally placing your body in an offensive opponent's path, you can't have or be maintaining LGP.