Basketball fans:When did "carrying" the ball stop being called? [View all]
I go back a ways and remember seeing old footage of games back in the '60s, maybe even the '70s of point guards like Cousy bring up the ball and making every effort to keep their hand atop the ball when dribbling.
I don't know when it changed, maybe the late '70s-early '80s, but now dribblers routinely have their hands on the side of the ball when dribbling and cutting. Maybe it was the advent of the cross-over dribble (which you can't do without doing what used to be called "carrying", and what refs used to call long ago.
Just last night watching the Mavericks v Timberwolves game, I saw Luka Doncic time and again with his hand just about under the ball as he made cuts when dribbling.
I'm not really missing the ref whistles interrupting the flow of the game, just wondering when it happened, and did the Commissioner's office and refs come to an agreement to modernize the game and stop calling "carrying".
I remember Mitch Richmond of the Run/TMC Warriors having a dangerous cross-over, as did AI of the Sixers of course. But they came in the '90s and '00s. IIRC it happened before that.
Anyone have any thoughts.