Explaining a foul to a player

[jdw3018]

I've got no problem answering questions for players who come to me during dead balls and are polite about it. It has always been positive for the game when I communicate with players who ask legitimate questions.

Had one the other night. At L, called a holding foul on the post defender B1. He was fronting A1 while facing the ball and reaching behind him with both arms to keep A1 from getting around him. Easy call.

After reporting and before shooting free throws (in the double-bonus) captain B2 walks to me and asks, very politely, "I know both of those guys have been playing pretty tough tonight. Can you tell me what he did?" Explained exactly why I called the hold. He said, "Okay, I'll tell him to knock it off."

All that said, I don't seek players out to explain anything to them very often. Every once in a while, if the call is odd and it's obvious a player is unaware of why a foul is called I might mention it very quickly. Depends on how the game has gone to that point and how convinced I am the player really doesn't understand.