dribbling question

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Ralph Stubenthal
A player is dribbling down the floor on the sideline when he runs into congestion from the defense. With no place to go, his last dribble is a very hard bounce which goes over his opponent's head. While the ball is making this bounce, he steps out of bounds to get around the opponents and steps back in bounds to retrieve the ball. When ( if ever) is this legal? I know that there is a rule against stepping OOB to get around traffic but if the dribbler is moving very fast, his forward speed could cause him to legally continue OOB. Under this scenario, if the ball bounced only the one time before he returned to the court to "continue" his dribbling, it would seem to surely be illegal. But, if the ball bounced more than once and he retrieved it, would it not be legal play (assuming he is not charged with going OOB to get around traffic?)

This play would not be legal. Anytime a player dribbling the ball steps out-of-bounds, that player has caused the ball to go out-of-bounds, even if the player does not simultaneously touch the ball and OOB.

In a similar scenario, if it happened in the middle of the court and there was no OOB situation, what would be legal and what would not?

As long as the dribbling rules are complied with (principally hand not uder the ball; ball not touched twice before touching the floor), the play is legal.

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