What's The Correct Call ???

[billyu2]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

A1 dribbles, comes to a stop, and intentionally, and deliberately, ends his dribble. He then proceeds to fumble the ball, which drops to the floor. A1 tries to pick up the fumbled ball, but in his haste he ends up just pushing it and the ball rolls across the floor for a distance of about a foot. Now A1 realizes that two defenders are close enough to him to attempt to pick up the fumbled ball off the floor, so he, in my opinion, intentionally, and deliberately pushes the ball to roll it a few feet away from one defender, and then, again in my opinion, intentionally, and deliberately, pushes the ball again to roll it a few feet away from the second defender. At this point, before he picks it up, I figure that the statute of limitations has run out on the "can always pick up a fumble rule", so I blow my whistle, and call a travel. Later, during a timeout, I discuss this with my partner and she believes that this should have been an illegal dribble.

I know that this play has got to be illegal, just not sure why? Help.

Here's another thought for what it's worth. Why not a double dribble? 4-15-1 says, "A dribble is ball movement caused by a player in control who bats or pushes the ball to the floor once or several times." The rule doesn't say the ball has to bounce or continue to bounce. Does this seem a more likely fit than a travel? The player completed a dribble, fumbled, then (while in control) batted or pushed the ball to the floor again.