Game 78: Houston Rockets (38-39) vs. Dallas Mavericks (47-30)

[The Jom]

He traveled when he caught the ball and he traveled when he came to a stop. You are generously calling it “not clean” when reality is he carries the ball 2 steps before putting the second hand on the ball. I grant you that NBA refs tend to give that move to star players. But that doesn’t mean the rules allow it. And they almost never allow you to do a full stop followed by another move, like what happened here. You have to abandon all sense of what a rule is to suggest it isn’t a travel. As far as rules go, once he picks up the ball (which he does with one hand, not two), his pivot foot is whichever foot first touches the floor. Or he may use either as the pivot if both are already on the floor or if both come down simultaneously. Then he can lift the pivot foot to pass or shoot but cannot maintain possession when that foot comes back down.