Call or no call?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
A1 in paint receives a pass, turns, makes his move around B1 to the basket and goes high for a dunk. B1 stays with him, going as high & gets a hand on the ball. B1 also gets some side to side body contact, not a lot but it's there. No real arm contact. A1 misses the dunk. Call or no call? A1 makes the dunk. Call or no call? How about if A1 layed it up instead of dunked? (For you nitpickers held ball or 3 seconds is not a consideration. )

Similar play: A1 on a breakaway drives in for a layup. B1 is following closely, B1 gets a hand on the ball as
A1 is in the air for the layup, followed by obvious body contact. The layup goes in. Call or no call? The layup does not go in. Call or no call?

For both the dunk and the lay-up,I usually try to let it go when the basket is good and the contact is fairly minimal,like you described.If there's side-to-side contact and the dunk or lay-up is missed,if the contact moves the shooter visibly in any way,I'll call it.If the shooter isn't moved,I have to judge whether the contact affected the shooter or not to have a foul.Any doubts at all,I let it go.Naturally,the key is to hold up on your whistle to see the finish of the play.
As for contact on the breakaway after a good block,it doesn't really matter to me if the ball went in or not.I want to protect the shooter because he's pretty vulnerable up there,but I don't want to penalise incidental contact after a good defensive play.That's what makes this one of the tougher calls to make,I think.If he knocks the shooter down or into a basket support(or wall),I'll usually call it.If not,it's a crap shoot.I just have to make up my own mind as to whether the contact was excessive enough to warrant a foul being called.
JMO.


[Edited by Jurassic Referee on Aug 2nd, 2002 at 12:40 PM]