Act of shooting

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by daggo66

As a football referee and a basketball coach, I'd like to give a perspective on this. As a coach I'd like to see the action continue and allow the eventual shot and potential basket before calling tha foul. I liken this to a pass interference call. The defense may interfere with the receiver, but we often hold the flag to see if the catch was made. If the catch was made it could be argues that the defender didn;t interfere with the catch since the catch was made. It can be frustrating as a coach to have the described play blown dead as the ball enters the basket and all we have is a throw in, especially if a shot clock is involved. The defense could actually benefit from the foul in this case.

Continue until when?

In the OP, the player "took two steps" -- so that's traveling, and the ball would be dead then, so no shot can happen.

If there's a shot clock, it's reset on the defensive foul.

In the football example, the penalty for DPI is always less than (or equal to ) the gain by the catch, so the offense will just take the catch. I think you should still throw the flag though, becuase (a) there is (often) a lag between the interference and the catch, so you don't know if the catch will be made, (b) there might be something after the catch that affects the penalty and (c) there might be another penalty that affects the play (all the above said with the knowledge that I am not a football official).

I agree that there can (and often needs to be) a "patient whistle" on plays similar to the OP. If the offenseive player can play through the contact and continue to the basket, perhaps there's no foul. But, in the OP, the ball was "gathered" at the FT line -- if the foul prevented the "continuous motion shot" then it needs to be called.