Timeout/Layup = technical foul

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

This may be a stretch:

NFHS 10-3-5: A player shall not: Delay the game by acts such as:
Failing when in possession, to immediately pass the ball to the nearer
official when a whistle blows.

I don't think that rule is applicable in the OP's sitch.

A time out is called. On the way to the bench, a player makes a lay-up. Is he delaying the game? That time-out is going to last 30 or 60 seconds regardless of the layup. If that player is delaying anything, it's a second or two of his own time at his bench, but that time-out will expire on time nonetheless.

Originally Posted by VaTerp

In the situation the OP described giving a T takes the game away from the players and coaches and puts it on a POOR JUDGMENT call from an official.

Poor judgment? Maybe. Still, I've come to believe that "taking the game away" concept is myopic. A single play never, ever decides a basketball game. The collection of plays over 32, 40, or 48 minutes (overtime notwithstanding) determines the winner. To say a single play determines an outcome is to negate all the other work that players, coaches, and officials put into that game.

Can a single play loom larger in a close game? Certainly. Will people be more likely to remember a single, closing-minutes play or call? Naturally. Will a single play unilaterally decide a basketball game? Never. Realistically, it's always about the collection. I believe that's all too easily forgotten.