In a sentence

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I'm sorry guys, but I'm just a little confused by this thread.

A1 is dribbling the ball, and decides to pick up his dribble with two hands firmly on the ball, thus ending the dribble. Defender B1 reaches in and attempts to steal the ball from A1, but A1 is able to pull the ball away from B1 and B1 is only able to lightly touch the ball. A1 does not lose the ball, but is able to keep two hands on the ball. Three-quarters of a second later, A1 decides to start a new dribble. I've got an illegal dribble violation here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Now let's get really "weird" here. A2 picks up her dribble, thus ending the dribble. During a pivot, A1 somehow fumbles the ball, which takes a few bounces on the floor, and also accidentally hits defender B2 in the back of the leg, before A1 re-establishes possession of the ball. A2 decides at this point to start a new dribble. What do you have here?

BillyMac, each of the provisions of 4-15-4 is SUFFICIENT to end the dribble -- it's never the case that you need all of them or even more than one. So once the dribble ends for ANY reason, it's illegal to start a new dribble.

So in your first play, the dribble ends by 4-15-4(a). When the player holding the ball begins a new dribble, the second dribble is illegal. The provisions of 4-15-4(d) -- and the opponent touching the ball -- don't enter this play, since the dribble has already ended before an opponent touches the ball.

Your second play meets the requirements of 9-5-3, and is thus a legal dribble.