In this installment of Have Ball, Will Travel, we’ll take a closer look at the legality of one quarter-ending sequence from Thursday’s first-round game between the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia Sixers. On this particular play, Andre Iguodala receives an inbound pass outside the three-point line, faces up against LeBron James, and makes a move to attack the basket:
Unlike many of the other plays featured in this series, Iguodala’s infraction of the traveling rule actually comes before he even takes his dribble. Prior to releasing the ball to initiate his drive, Iguodala actually takes two steps: first by planting his right foot while lifting his pivot, and the second by returning his pivot foot to the ground. The relevant section of the traveling rule reads as follows:
In starting a dribble after (1) receiving the ball while standing still, or (2) coming to a legal stop, the ball must be out of the player’s hand before the pivot foot is raised off the floor.
NBA officials are typically able to catch this type of violation, but the crew in this game dropped the ball on a pretty blatant walk. Iguodala didn’t merely attempt to explode toward the basket while releasing his pivot too early, but planted two separate times before his dribble even began. Even at full speed Iguodala’s move seems a bit fishy (if not illegal), but I suppose that while watching for contact and keeping an eye on the clock’s countdown, the officials overlooked this fairly obvious violation.
