throw-in fumble by A1

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Would I kid you?

If you've reached 4 1/2 on your count when the thrower fumbles the ball sideways, are you going to blow your whistle and re-set him with a full 5-second count?

Couple of points, the first unnecessary & the others more serious...

I don't ever get to 4 1/2 on my count. I go from 4 to 5 skipping whatever is in the middle. Same with the other numbers.

I most likely would not kill the play in your sitch, I'm going to continue counting. (I actually can't see how someone "fumbles the ball sideways" accidentally btw...in the gyms I work gravity causes the ball to get accidentally fumbled mostly downwards.)

You're going to ask me when I would blow the whistle to kill the play. The answer is when it seems likely A1 fumbled as I handed/bounced the ball to him or if he dropped it and I judged it was purely accidental and something very unusual happened that causes it to make him have to leave the spot, like it bounced off my foot maybe...

If I did kill the play A1 gets a new and complete 5 seconds. Same as would happen any other time a throw-in is stopped by a whistle without a violation or foul.