It must be one of those held balls I've seen where nobody has a firm grasp of the ball but there are 3 or 4 players on the ground.

In other words, poor officiating.

I've had coaches ask, "How is that not a [jump] ball?" My serious reply to this (serious, I guess) question is, "If [he/she] was able to pull it away that easily, it wasn't held."

What I meant by that is calling a jump ball quicker than normal if the game is getting chippy. There's no way I'd call a jump ball if the ball is loose. I apologize for the poor choice of words.