Here's a switch

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Should we accept this belief that the defense can stop the clock anytime they want, just because they're behind? Should we reward the defense with breaking the rules, just because they trail on the scoreboard?

Some people think not to call this foul is "unfair." How can it be unfair to the defensive players, when they're the ones committing the infraction?

I actually worked a game with a good friend who is a great official and works at a much higher level than me, and we had almost this exact situation come up. His position was we need to be aware that a team is wanting to foul, and "get" that first contact as soon as it happens so it doesn't escalate to a harder foul that may need to be called intentional. His feeling was we shouldn't appear to stop officiating at the end of the game.

My feeling is by simply "getting" that first contact, we actually have stopped officiating. Officiating is having to make those many decisions about what contact is incidental and what contact is a foul. If one team is trying to foul, and the other team kind of stands there, waiting to be fouled, then yes we can probably lower our threshold a little. But if that other team is purposely playing hard trying to avoid being fouled, then we have continue to officiate by making the same decisions about whether that contact is a foul at that point in the game as in the first half.

Don't think of it as "unfair" to the team trying to foul that we may rule some contact incidental, and they have to keep trying. It is just as "unfair" to the team trying to run time off the clock and we stop it for a marginal play that wouldn't have been a foul earlier in the game. Should we know one team is trying to foul? Absolutely, but not to change what we call, but rather to know and be aware so it doesn't surprise us when it happens.

In the context of the X/KS St. game, the T might tell us that he was straight-lined and wished he could've called that first contact. But my guess is he did see it, and chose to pass because the dribbler got passed the defender easily. If that exact play had happened in the first half, I don't think we would be talking about a "missed" call.