Is this double dribble?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by ca_rumperee

Saw this in a recent NBA game.

Player A1 has ball at the top of the key. Initiates dribble, then tries to terminate dribble by grabbing the ball with both hands. Ball slips through fingers... he has muffed it.

Defender sees the ball bouncing there and moves in to collect it. A1 seeing the defender coming towards it, taps it towards the floor (like a dribbling action) so that it bounces back away from the defender, then catches the ball.

My feeling is that this is a double violation. Player A1 terminated dribble, muffed it, but then made a controlling tap of the ball after that.

I can't sepak for the NBA rule, but for FED the phrase "it is not a dribble when a player bats the ball away from an opponent who is attempting to get it" (probably not exact since it's from memory) in 4-DRIBBLE would seem to imply that the play was legal.