Closely Guarded Dilemma

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

ART. 1 . . . Guarding is the act of legally placing the body in the path of an offensive opponent. There is no minimum distance required between the guard and opponent, but the maximum is 6 feet when closely guarded.

If the defender is behind the dribbler, he ain't guarding. Therefore there is no count. Therefore you got it right.

I disagree with this concept as written. The call I'm thinking specifically is of a dribbler driving towards the basket, then retreating when he's been stopped. While retreating, the defender follows him closely. Are you saying you'll terminate the count once the dribbler begins his retreat because the defender is no longer in his path?

"In the path" is, IMO, subjective. I wish I could see the play in the OP to make my call. I see nothing in the OP that tells me there should be no count, but I could be seeing it wrong.

I think the path can be defined one of two ways: the general direction between the player and where he could reasonably be expected to want the ball, and the direction he is obviously moving.