Have Ball, Will Travel: Vince Carter

In this installment of Have Ball, Will Travel, we’ll take at a look at a play where Vince Carter went to work against the Milwaukee Bucks, and stepped his way into one of the NBA’s points of officiating emphasis this season.

Dallas Mavericks 102, Milwaukee Bucks 76; 2nd, 5:23

Carter was called for a travel on this play. On first glance, it looks as though Carter might simply be pulling a classic — if too obvious — pivot shift. However, if you watch his steps closely, the violation doesn’t come on a pivot play at all (nor by taking too many steps), but on a pretty unique instance of the same-foot hop rule that warrants an automatic whistle. From the NBA Rulebook:

Upon ending his dribble or gaining control of the ball, a player may not touch the floor consecutively with the same foot (hop).

This rule is one typically enforced on the perimeter, but Carter manages to bring it to the post by keeping one foot just off the ground as he hops to trigger his post move. At full speed, Carter’s move looked unorthodox and possibly illegal, but the officials (David Jones, Olandis Poole, and Mike Callahan) were right on top of this interesting application of one of the points of emphasis in officiating this season.

Oster-Tags: Have Ball Will Travel