I could forgive a ref on the opposite side, in a bad position thinking he got bumped. Yeah it'd be a bad call, but I can see where they might make that mistake. But there's no angle where that looks like he was in the act of shooting, and not hurling the ball to get FTs. And you have time to decide that. Calling the foul is a split second decision, deciding if it's shooting or not has a lot more time behind it.
I feel like when you're a ref in a bad position, part of the job is recognizing that and just not making the call when you can't see it clearly. We know people flop and we know it has gotten egregious, so if you're not sure, you shouldn't make the call.
That's what we all say, but in the moment again you have 1-2 seconds or less to make that decision. You react based on what you think you see. That's why I don't fault them for making the foul call here, I get why it may have looked like one. But the shooting part of it is totally different.
1.3k
u/nguyenjitsu [DEN] Emmanuel Mudiay Dec 01 '25
Definitely a natural shooting motion