What's Wrong with this Ball..

[Splute]

Originally Posted by Da Official

The ball was fine...the player lost control of the dribble and the ball naturally started bouncing lower and lower. He tried to keep the dribble going but it died on him.

I'm curious about the statement, can you elaborate?

"...hitting the ball with a closed hand does not necessarily constitute a violation of the rule regarding hitting the ball with fist."

We are allowed to start a dribble by pushing, throwing or batting the ball to the floor. A dribble is ball movement caused by a player in control who bats ( intentionally strikes the ball with the hand(s)).... I do not see where the "stike" has to be with an open hand. Therefore I believe a player is allowed to use the bottom of a closed hand or even the back of the hand to dribble. I believe rule 9-4 relates to intentionally hitting the ball with the fist, as in a punch motion.