3 seconds

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Almost Always Right

.
Having that said, here is the sitch: A player enters the lane while dribbling and has their head and shoulders in front of the primary defender, secondary defenders then stop the advancement toward the goal and the offensive player then picks up the dribble. While pivoting to keep "working for the shot", the offensive player does not leave the key.

1) Do you suspend the 3 second count while the offensive player keeps "working for their shot"?
2) Could you have a 5 second closely guarded before you have 3 second violation?

1) No. Rule 9-3 says that you make allowance for a player dribbling in or moving immediately to try for goal. Is your player dribbling in? No. Is your player immediately trying for goal. Not by your description; it sounds like he's throwing a coupla fakes instead. The rule of thumb is that you let the offensive player go straight to the basket and then complete the act of shooting, without stopping for any reason in between(pass, fakes, etc.).

2) You can, but not on this particular play. The 5-second count terminated when the dribbler got their head and shoulders past the primary defender.