Obviously they stopped paying attention to that in making the calls. It sucks, because how is a defender supposed to stay with the dribbler when he acts like he is stopping the dribble, then all of a sudden is able to blow by him because he palmed the ball and didn't actually stop the dribble? That is why CP3 was able to make the game winning shot. Blame it on Allen Iverson. Here is one article about it:
https://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2010/10/19/will-rule-change-suddenly-change/
...first of all, EXCELLENT find on that article! Thank you very much! And your assessment of what they are actually doing (palming) is exactly what I've been saying for years! However, the "originator" of "legally" palming the ball dates way back before Iverson! It was Earl "the Pearl" Monroe that started it, perfected it, and then the refs failed to call it.....that has brought us to the point we are now in all leagues of basketball, including pop warner, YMCA, schoolyard, College and the Pro game! It gave the offensive player a distinct advantage over the defender and therefore caused the defender to develop the "hand check" which was subsequently deepsixed to keep the offense ahead of the defense! Some of the excellent points made by the writer of that article are as follows:
"Iverson violated every dribble rule in the book to gain an unfair advantage on his defender.....Now players are lifting the ball for a split second, and just as the defender thinks the player is about to stop dribbling, that player continues his dribble, clearly gaining an advantage because the defender is now off-balance. Phil Jackson calls it the “discontinue dribble” and it is rarely enforced. It got so bad that today, they actually teach “palming” (ahem, crossover) to little kids. Yes, pretty soon, an entire generation began lifting the ball, pulling the ball, dragging the ball, everything but legally dribbling the ball. And the high schools and colleges looked the other way. Eventually, so did the NBA. The league really needs to uphold the basic rules Dr. James Naismith created. Send a message to teenagers that palming will not be allowed on the highest level. And while you’re at it, clean up traveling, too (the two-steps-and-bunny-hop is especially insulting to the memory of Dr. James). And treat these obvious violations the same, whether the game is a minute old or there’s a minute left. The game will survive, because players will simply adjust, if they want to get paid.
And just think: calling players for palming will really get them steamed at the refs."
