I didn't think it was a travel when I saw it live, but the gif provided made it questionable, but too hard to tell for sure even after watching it over and over again. I was kind of leaning towards travel though to be honest with you. The pictures on the other hand, that were originally posted to prove it was a travel actually pretty convincingly proved that it wasn't as his foot is about to hit the ground and he hasn't yet gathered the ball with both hands. Looking at the space from his foot to the ground and from his off hand to the ball with the space from the foot to the ground being much smaller lead me to believe that his foot planted ever so slightly before he actually was able to fully gather the ball with both hands. At which point he still had the ability to take two steps. Classic Euro-step executed with laser like precision. Good job James.
At first I thought it was a travel, even when I looked at it the second time I still thought hey that's gotta be a travel, but when I focus on when he actually picks up the ball with both hands you realize that the 1st step with his right foot is technically still part of his dribble so we don't count that step. We only count the steps after the dribble has been picked up.
About 4 or 5 years. By the current NBA rule, which was essentially amended because of the growing prevalence of players just adding a step, this is not a travel. Is it REALLY a travel? Yes. Like someone said, no one would allow this crap on the street, and before this millennium, the NBA wouldn't have either.
You're all missing a very key point here. James should have finished with his right hand. AmIright? :grin::grin::grin:
Just can't nail it down from this angle -- looks no worse than a tie to me, which would go to the runner... hard to call something that close a travel, I say.
Doesn't look like a travel with this slow mo. He clearly planted his foot to the right before gathering the ball, at which point his 2 steps took place. It's really more like a very good use of the gather step instead. Certainly nowhere near as bad as Lebron's "crap dribbles" which he has gotten away with since the beginning of time.
Such a beautiful move! I jumped out of my chair, yelled, and immediately watched it again half a dozen times. Damn, Harden's something special. Having more than a day between games really charges his batteries.
Just to rationalize the move a little more, and the explicit change of rule book in 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4563546 "The NBA has put into writing a rule allowing players on the move to gather the ball, after driving or catching it, and then take two steps. Throughout NBA history, the rulebook said players could take one step." or from the rule book it self. http://mediacentral.nba.com/media/mediacentral/Official-NBA-Rule-Book.pdf b. A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball. A player who receives the ball while he is progressing must release the ball to start his dribble before his second step. Post number 30 showed that he has not completed the dribble while his foot was still in the air, post number 27 showed that he completed his dribble when the right foot touch the ground, and then gets two steps. That's the rules and how I'm interpreting it. If you guys want to be the rules lawyer at your next pick up game and use it to do an Euro step ...... just make sure it's not on the court that Ron Artest is talking about. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Z3_xmYLBnnA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
