inadvertent whistle? pt. 2

[BillyMac]

My recent post: "Most of us would assume, and usually be correct, that a shot was blocked after the release, but this may not necessarily always be true. The original post simply says "blocks the shot", not "blocks the shot after it's been released on a try". Picky? Yes. Relevant? In theory, I believe, yes."

Originally Posted by btaylor64

I would not call this a continuation of team control, ever. If a player is going up for a shot and has it in one hand above his/her head in an "attempt" to release the ball on a shot and a defender knocks it away I am not going to microdot this play. It is blatantly obvious to everyone that the defender is getting his or her "shot" blocked. Save yourself the hassle and don't continue and deem this team control. That is foolish and not common sense refereeing.

I agree with you that, what you call, "microdoting", and what many Forum members often refer to as, overly officious officiating, is not the way to realistically approach a live game. But in the context of a preseason rules interpretation question, definitions are very important, and should not be ignored, if only to emphasis how difficult it is to officiate a basketball game.

4-12- 3: Team control continues until: a. The ball is in flight during a try or tap for goal. b. An opponent secures control. c. The ball becomes dead.

4-12-4: While the ball remains live a loose ball always remains in control of the team whose player last had control, unless it is a try or tap for goal.

4-12-6: Neither team control nor player control exists during a dead ball, throw-in, a jump ball or when the ball is in flight during a try or tap for goal.

4-41-1: The act of shooting begins simultaneously with the start of the try or tap and ends when the ball is clearly in flight, and includes the airborne shooter.

4-41-2: A try for field goal is an attempt by a player to score two or three points by throwing the ball into a team’s own basket. A player is trying for goal when the player has the ball and in the official’s judgment is throwing or attempting to throw for goal. It is not essential that the ball leave the player’s hand as a foul could prevent release of the ball.

4-41-3: The try starts when the player begins the motion which habitually precedes the release of the ball.

The highlighted parts of the above quoted rules deal with the difference between a try for goal, and the release of that try for goal. In a real game situation, I will concede to you that you can probably get away with calling a try for goal a loss of team control, however, in the context of an exam question, or when confronted with a situation where going to the arrow, as in the original post, occurs when there are only a few seconds left in the game, and the misapplication, in theory, of the rule causes a team to, by definition, incorrectly gain control of the ball, and score the winning basket, then an intelligent coach, athletic director, local cable television announcer, or local newspaper sports reporter, may put you in a situation where you have, as Ricky used to say to Lucy, "A lot of 'splaining to do" to your partner, evaluator, or assigner.