Tapping an airborne shooter

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by RookieDude

The difference is there was contact...the contact was not incidental...the contact was ON PURPOSE...the contact affected the shot...FOUL...at least IMHO.

First, intentional contact CAN be incidental. Think about a defender reaching out to "find" the player he's guarding. You're not going to let him leave the hand there for a prolonged period of time and you're not going to let him hold the offensive player. But the initial contact to "find" the offensive player is intentional and incidental. I would humbly suggest that this tap on the leg is intentional and incidental.

Second, I have a really hard time imagining how a tap on the leg can affect a jump shot. There's no way that it hindered the shooter's offensive movements, and I think there's very little chance that it affected his balance enough to alter his landing.

If you truly believe that it affected the shot, then I guess you have to call a foul. But I can't honestly believe that it did -- unless, as I said earlier -- I'm simply not picturing it correctly.