After splitting two Celtics defenders, leaping into the lane, landing, and then going back up for a layup, it’s somewhat easy to understand why one particular third quarter play by LeBron James inspired calls of traveling from throughout the land. Not so fast, NBA ‘verse. What seemed like a travel to many looks an awful lot like a textbook jump stop to me. LeBron travels quite a bit, but he was innocent on this particular play. Take a look:
http://www.nba.com/videorulebook/category.html?cid=76
3rd one down is a legal jump stop, straight from the horses mouth.
Other than the height of the jump stop this is just about identical to Lebron's move.
Seems pretty legit to me.
A long time ago I use to argue over horrible calls. I use to say this and that! I've come to realize one thing, it's always up to the ref. All the arguing in the world can't change dispute that rule!
Yeah, it's a reg. jumpstop, just that he jumps high and lands hard. My friends call me for travelling when I jump hig/land hard as well, even though its the same number of steps as my usual jump-stop.
And people who said he lifted it high to shoot: he lifted it high so it could get past KG
under (2) of the travelling rule, it says count one is when he gathers the ball and his foot's on the ground. he clearly gathers the ball while one foot's on the ground. His options are now (I) to take one step and jump off that foot and shoot before landing, (II) to put his other foot down and pivot according to the rest of the traveling rule, or (III) travel. If you're reading the rulebook in plain english.
However, the NBA's own video rulebook shows someone doing the exact same thing and has an explanation that contradicts the written rulebook. So whatever. I'm pretty sure the rule as actually officiated is "If so-and-so's jersey sales are in the top 25 of the league, give him 3 steps, not 2." I love the NBA but it's not worth arguing about how officiating SHOULD be done until they add some transparency, get rid of refs who are too old to beat a 400 pound Barkley in a short footrace, investigate some of Donaghy's claims and actually explain how he was wrong with evidence and stats to back up their claims, etc.
Textbook jump-stop. Not a travel. Next.
if his feet didn't land simultaneously before the jump and release, it'd be a travel. that's what was getting him in trouble before, he'd go an extra step and jump off one foot instead of this.
According to the rules of the NBA, he could not pivot. The jump-stop rule essentially seems to treat BOTH feet as the pivot foot. That means that once you have landed a jump stop, if you raise either foot off the ground, you have to get rid of the ball before you put it back down.
There's a lot of talk about "ups and downs" or "you can't jump and land with the ball." Putting aside the jump-stop rule (which clearly says you can "alight" with the ball and land with both feet), how would you separate "jumping and landing with the ball" from the two steps every player takes when they go in for a regular lay-up?
Good video. C's fan here and that actually doesn't look like a travel IMO. He just did the jump stop at a weird angle and it look higher because he kinda scrunched his body and pulled in his knees.
Players should do that more - split the defenders by using a jump stop to an open area.
Pretty nifty.
Still can't stomach the guy and he's definitely going to NY.
He will choke it in the playoffs there too.
That is not a travel. That is a jumpstop. If you gather the ball on the way into the jumpstop, you are in the clear. if you pick up your dribble then jump, it's a travel. The important thing is the gather. He clearly gathers cleanly in the midst of his jump. I'm a celtics fan and i would never call that a travel. This is the first basketball move I ever learned and I use it every time I play. I would also argue that he could still pivot out of this move. You cannot "lose" a pivot foot. If you pick up your dribble while standing on two feet, you can choose which pivot foot to use. Since he lands on two feet, he has no established pivot foot. Therefore he still has the option to choose a pivot foot and use it.
this debate is irrelevant... you can't jump with the ball and land with the ball in your possession. The only wa this is possible is if the opposition knocks the ball out of your hands... which didn't happen. Its a travel any way you slice it.
Almost anyone else in the league gets a travelling call...
The best part of this is everyone that says "clearly" and then follows it up with either "he didn't travel" or "travel." It's obvious after reading these comments that nothing is clear (yet everyone in here is a die-hard b'ball fan).
Seems like some people here are prioritizing different things. He definitely landed on two-feed and didn't try to pivot afterward - so that part we should all agree is legit right?
Most here understand that the distance or height of the jump is irrelevant - so that's legit right?
Where the impasse starts seems to be the debate over "gathering." Until someone posted that NBA.com video, I had never seen that definition "he offensive player on this play gathers the ball, alights from his right foot, and then lands with both feet simultaneously on the floor."
You won't find that in any NCAA rulebook or high school rule book. So please understand that there's a major distinction between the NBA and every other sanctioning basketball body. (Including overseas...so come Olympic time, none of this LeBron stuff will be cool with FIBA - as has been evidenced with his constant violations and subsequent whistles) There's not a high school basketball camp in the country that's teaching a "air dribble" off the gather. They're teaching it off the bounce (ABCD camp doesn't count haha).
So that's what I took from this.
The jump stop is traveling. It's a farce that "rules" allow it.
also...to those arguing it's like an up-n-down, it's not. The difference there is you're lifting off of two feet to begin with, so those are your two "steps". here, he just lifted off of one, and still hasnt yet had another step, until he lands ont wo feet, which is considered one step.
all those people who say "Clearly a travel" and "you must be retarded if its not a travel" and "that's 3 steps" clearly have not ever used the jump stop. its a great move that allows your second contact point to be with both feet, as long as they are simultaneously placed on the ground. LeBron travels a ton, and it never gets called. Pretty ironic how the one time he actually doesn't travel everyone gets all upset about it.
Clearly a jump-stop, not a travel. Many refs mistakenly call this a travel.
that move is totally homo
i have not read too many of these posts because ...... anyone who does not think this move was NOT a travel clearly does not understand the rules of the game..... it is a travel as soon as he lands with both feet.. or even if he only touched down with the ONE... because he has the ball in his hand before he hops off his foot the first time.... sorry for all of you that do not comprehend that.. and to those others that have mentioned that... kudos to you and i am glad we are not all pathetic
You guys are idiots. Watch the video
Hasn't been a travel ever since the league adopted "Jordan rules" 15 years ago
All yall are trying to argue that a clear up-and-down is a legal jump stop. If the dude jumps two feet in the air without releasing the ball that joint is a travel
could his INTENT in doing the jump stop factor in?
in other words, if he was about to shoot the ball, then changed his mind in mid-air and landed on his two feet just like here, would that have made a difference in a traveling call?
Travel or no travel it will be great to ee you in New York next year LeBron.
Buy your tickets now!!
You are literally retarded if you don't think this is a travel.
It would have been a clean jump-stop if his left foot wasn't on the ground when he pulled his dribble. If you stop the video just before your "First step on collect" freeze, you can see the ball in his hand and his left foot on the floor. Not even close.
When you jump-stop, the jump-stop becomes your pivot 'foot' (which is why you can't lift either foot). You can't have already established a pivot foot (as LeBron does here, his R foot becomes the pivot when he lifts his L foot). Put it another way, when you pull your dribble, you get two feet/steps('counts')- on the move, that's a back foot and a front (pivot) foot. The front 'foot' can be two feet if you jump stop. But you don't get two pivots. End of story.
In fact, I think LeBron could have even pivoted after the jump stop here on either foot.
No way. Even if his L foot had been off of the floor when he pulled his dribble, you can only pivot off of either foot if *neither* foot is on the floor when you pull your dribble/receive the pass. That would be the first count, and then you can move either foot for the second count.
first of all, he was OUT OF BOUNDS when he caught the ball.
second, LeBron could have easily scored 50 if he just kept going to that move all night, it's unstoppable.
I personally don't think it's a travel just because refs almost never make that call, at least in the NBA. more players should use it.
sorry everyone for not understanding that his right foot was one step then his left and right foot is only considered 1 step. If that is the case then something changed since I played. The advantage is way to great to have a league of long jumpers travel in the air than put up a short jumper. What was Bob Beamons long jump record? 21 feet? The foul line is 15, the top the key another 5 so someone could long jump the 20 feet from the top of the key and jump stop and put up a little bank shot under the basket and it would be perfectly legal with both feet landing only counting as 1 step. Think about that. Is that what the league wants?
"If the rule allows one step/jump after a dribble followed by a landing on two feet and then going back up why couldn’t you leap from the 3-pt line, land on two feet in the circle (assuming you’ve got some good velocity) and then going back up again for a layup?"
You can. You'll probably get blocked or injured doing that though.
If you think this is a travel, then a step back jumper (which is done all the time with no controversy) is also a travel. Perfect jump stop.
The key here is that Lebron landed on BOTH feet simultaneously. Had he landed on his right again (the take off foot) its a travel (another rule all together). Had he landed on his left than put down his right thats also a travel because thats 3 steps (planted the right to jump than landing left foot right foot). THIS IS A LEGAL PLAY BY A GREAT ATHLETE! Period.
Unfortunately, alot of you guys have probably never played organized basketball of any kind, or you'd know that coaches teach you that exact move. Textbook jump stop. Excellent fundamentals Lebron.
Count the steps before he lands on both feet -- there are two! This video only counts one but it is pretty clear he steps with his right(1), jumps off his left(2) and lands on two. Seriously, watch the video again. Travel!
And I agree that if anyone else did that, except for maybe Kobe, it would have been traveling. The Refs are as bad as they ever were and instead of actually fixing the problem the League is just fining anyone who criticized them.
Clearly a jump stop. Allowed in the NBA or YMCA....
This is NOT a travel. However, I remember seeing Bron, in the regular season, use the same move — THEN PIVOT — and score with no call. Landing with both feet at the same time, with no pivot, is the key to the jump-stop.
The clip itself clearly illustrates that the move was a travel. At the point in which he "leaps off of one foot" around the 40 second mark, he has two choices: shoot or pass. You cannot land back onto the ground after leaping into the air with both hands holding the ball. That is a traveling violation. If he had taken his step and then kept his dribble all the way up until the jump stop, it would have been legal. But because he took the ball into both hands prior to taking the leap, he committed to getting rid of the ball prior to landing; which he didn't. The fact that a blog has decided to defend this is sad in and of itself. Not to mention he was also bailed out on a no call towards the end when he clearly jumped into Paul Pierce on a shot fake that is called a foul 95% of the time. He jumped INTO Pierce, not straight up. Two blatant edges for the King - I love basketball, but David Stern and the league's interests make it very hard sometimes to love or defend the NBA.
Gathered with one foot on the ground, jumped off of that one foot, landed simultaneously on both feet. Not much to argue, perfectly executed jump stop. Stupid rule, but it's legal.
that is a travel, he takes two steps BEFORE he takes the hop step. if it was one and then the hop its ok, but its two small steps so still technically a travel. the hop is ok its whats before thats the travel, and thats what nate or whoevers on the celtics bench is sayin as well if you look
it's not traveling when it's lebron. he doesn't foul either.
Eligh!! Nice, although he's also got a song called "Traveler"...
Note that the above comment is a DIRECT QUOTATION from the NBA Video Rule Book: http://www.nba.com/videorulebook/category.html?cid=76
This is an example of a LEGAL jump stop by an offensive player, and this is NOT a traveling violation. An offensive player may end his dribble by alighting off of one foot and landing simultaneously on both feet. The offensive player on this play gathers the ball, alights from his right foot, and then lands with both feet simultaneously on the floor. Note that at this point, the player may not pivot; if he lifts either foot, the ball must be released prior to that foot returning to the floor.
This whole argument indicated that their needs to be a clarification of what a travel is a what isn't. seriously, nobody really knows. I think we just usually go with, whoa that didn't look normal, TRAVEL!
hi haters, this is a perfect jumpstop, i use it all the time and no calls are made. calling this a travel is either pure ignorance or a lack of knowledge of the game of basketball, get your mind right.
this is not a travel, this is a well done jumpstop, i use it all the time with no problem and no calls are made. you are all just ignorant or don't have much knowledge of the game of basketball..
That is one perfectly executed jump-stop. He landed both feet exactly at the same time. I think it is a good exception to travelling, considering if one chooses o execute a jump-stop you have sacrificed your right to pivot.
My goodness, no one knows what a travel is! Look at everyone getting angry. Remember this the next time you're playing pick-up. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT A TRAVEL IS ANYMORE.
That said, I agree. Jump-stop. No travel.
This is a well executed jump stop, by the rules.
When coming to a stop, you get the gather and then two steps. BUT you can use two feet for the last step if both feet hit the ground at the same time. Hence the jump stop.
This is legal in either the NBA or the NCAA.
And the verdict is....travelling! Imagine he was going up for a layup, bounces the ball one last time, takes a step to elevate....then just lands with the ball. That would be called a travel every time. Each foot is a step. When you come to a jump stop, you've used your two steps--- thus, adding the step before would make three.
Put it another way...after your last dribble, the first foot you put down is your pivot foot. You can lift that pivot foot, but you can't put it back down with the ball in your hand. Thus, you can back a player down, for example, give a ball fake and make a step-through, jumping off the non-pivot foot, but you can't take another step with the pivot foot.
This is really pretty basic stuff, Mahoney, can't believe you can get this wrong. One plus two equals three.
Shooters do that all the time, they just don't take as big as a jump before the hit the floor. No travel.
By the way I am always surprised that people here in the States immediately call traveling when people's bodies move irregularly in a play (like here, when his legs go way up and his body goes sideways).. It used to drive me nuts that people were thinking Ginobili always travels, just because he changes directions and sometimes his first step is way slower than the second.. Just look at the feet and count!
A jump stop is considered 2 steps in most rule books. If he didn't pick up the ball before taking that initial step, which led to the "jump stop", then would didn't travel. In this case, he did. It is too much of an advantage to take one step and then be able to land with 2 feet before a shot or pass. The proper jump-stop is to pick up the ball as you jump to stop, NOT after taking a first step!!! Get off his *ick
In the slow-motion you can see him looking at his feet. He is obviously thinking "man, I absolutely need to land on both feet or else it's a travel". I think in the old days he might have been tempted to do a crab-dribble there :)
All I know is in Europe, where I play ball, that's a travel. Those two steps count as three. When he makes the final step you can't you still count one-two-three. So pick-up (1), lift-off (2), landing with both feet (steps 3 and 4)so that's a travel. I'm not familiar enought with NBA rules but I know over here it's a travel, though it's a fantastic move!