Screening

[SamIAm]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I'm not sure if "exempt" is a good word to use in this case. I had 2 different screen plays last night in the same game that might illustrate the difference.

First one, post player sets a screen up high and waits as the ballhandler runs the defender right into it. Defender hits the screen, didn't try to stop, and crumples into a heap right at the feet of the post player. Post player was knocked back a step, and contact was pretty severe, perhaps even resulted in a slight injury, but definitely incidental - no foul.

Second play, defender sees the screen, slows down a little on contact, but then decides they're going to keep going to get to the ball handler behind the screener. Both players go down, and even though the contact was less than the first play, I called the foul on the defender for displacing the opponent. Yes, they initially slowed down before contact, but the contact caused the screener to go down and put them in a disadvantageous position. I'm not going to exempt the defender from a foul in this case just because they "attempted to stop" first before running over the screener.

My post concerned JRut's post #12 indicating he did not think it mattered if the screen was seen or not. I then posted again but only pulled a piece of post #13, still concerning whether the screen was seen or not.

I agree with both your plays.

The OP is a no-brainer for experienced officials knowing the screen was seen.