Fantastic W&S. Should we give MR Pine a chair to stand on while talking to Yao, else Yao might have a neck problem!!!
I dont think foul problems with something to be of a concern in the future. They are just picking on him now cause he is the rookie and in most of the spotlight.
Great photos W&S! As usual you come through with interesting information. Always look forward to it! Keep it up! Chris
Block or Foul? I say it is foul and this is a perfect picture for Rudy T to send to the Officials so that they can watch for this when teams play against Yao Ming. His arm is directly in front of the ball and his left hand is under and directly in front of the ball. This makes it almost impossible to block the ball from the front while the ball is still in Yao Mings hands with out getting the fore arm or the hand or both. Any time a 7’6” player is blocked from the front like that it should be scrutinized. This was clearly a foul on David Robinson.
wow crash5179 with the eagle eyes, very good points you make. i've been seeing this pic on here and until now never thought it showed anything other than a clean swat. D-rob's hand has to be all over Yao's hand on that block as you said, and thanks for pointing that out. it's very easy to miss at first glance; hopefully the officials will be made aware of this and learn to watch out for it.
Sorry to go a bit off-topic, but is that Steve's new haircut? Sorry, haven't seen it yet. It is kind of weird looking. BTW, nice examination of the "block" crash.
And what rule would that be. Hand is part of the ball? Sorry dude but I have never heard of that. Is the fore arm also part of the ball? How about the elbow? If the there really is such a rule that states the hand can be slapped when a player is shooting the I appologize but I have never heard of such a thing. FOUL.
JayZ750, It appears that you are wrong. No such rule exists or at least not that I can find. Here is a link to the rules regarding fouls: http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_12.html?nav=ArticleList As a matter of fact no player is even allowed to put his hand on another player at all. The exception is: (5) Incidental contact with the hand against an offensive player shall be ignored if it does not affect the player's speed, quickness, balance and/or rhythm. David Robinson clearly fouled Yao Ming.
crash: look at the bottom of this page of newspaper. I cannot find the large versions of all three photos. The second one is the one what we are talking about. I think it is a foul or a goaltender(?)or a steal(?). I am not a bball espert. so I am not sure.
I've heard the hand is part of the ball maxim many times. I believe it is an unwritten rule, or better put, a custom or pattern of enforcement. This is probably applied more often in not calling steals as fouls if the defensive player hits the offensive player's hand (and hand only) while it is on the ball. It only happens on a block, typically, if the ball is being blocked from behind. If you think referees follow the rule book without exception, or don't have their own interpretations, then you are probably not familiar with strike zones in baseball. That being said, it looks like Robinson got a lot of wrist and arm in the picture. Of course, it happens so fast in real time, that the contact was probably not able to be picked up by even the trained human eye.
I thought the "hand is part of the ball" rule is a new rule, or at least refs have said they plan on enforcing it this season. I heard that during some broadcast this season.
