Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, but not everybody is entirely familiar with how the game is played. Not to mention all of the rules and regulations that go along with it make it incredibly confusing. Today, we are going to be talking about a question that new fans of the sport might be asking. How many times can you hold the basketball with two hands?
You are able to hold the basketball with two hands however many times that you want throughout the course of a game. However, there are other rules that coincide with this question that limit you to WHEN you are able to pick it up with two hands. For example, picking it up multiple times in one possession without dribbling is a traveling violation. We’ll dive into it more soon, but the bottom line is that there isn’t a number limit on how many times you can do so.
Most of the time, you might not even realize that you are holding the basketball with two hands, or even counting how many times you’ve done so.
No Number Limit
The big thing to remember here is that you won’t be counted on how many times you hold the ball with two hands in basketball. If you’re in a professional league or a pick-up game, there’s not going to be somebody off to the side that counts how many times you put aa second hand on the ball. It wouldn’t make much sense to do that, and ultimately doesn’t affect how the game is played out, unless you violate other rules which we’ll get to later on.
Don’t get too caught up with how many times you hold it with two hands though, it’ll happen at times when you don’t even think about it. Maybe you caught a pass, snagged a rebound, stopped in the middle of your dribble, etc. These are all times when you’ll hold it with two hands and not even realize.
Traveling Violations
The most notable violation that you could stumble into regarding holding the ball with two hands is traveling. In basketball, you can’t really move with the ball unless you are actively dribbling it. If you don’t dribble it and move in any direction for multiple steps, then officials will likely whistle you for a traveling violation.
This is important on this topic because when you hold the ball with two hands, you set yourself up for this traveling violation. If you take a few dribbles and then suddenly stop in your tracks, you usually hold the ball with two hands. You aren’t able to continue dribbling after that, and you can’t move after that either because it would be a travel. So, during a dribble, you can only hold the ball with two hands once, and that’ll be when you stop moving and either pass or shoot the ball.
Double Dribble
We just briefly mentioned it but there’s another rule that you could break when holding it with two hands when you aren’t supposed to. If you’re in the middle of a dribble and stop holding the ball with two hands again, you have the potential to double dribble. A double dribble is when you completely stop, put two hands on the basketball, and then proceed to start dribbling again like nothing happened. Referees will see this immediately and whistle you for a different violation. The reason that this one gets brought up is because it specifically gets called when you put a second hand on the ball and then keep on dribbling.
It just further nails in the point that you can really only hold the ball with two hands once per dribble drive with the basketball. The second that you stop after starting means that you have to hand the ball off before resetting yourself. It’s a confusing couple of rules to figure out and get the hang of, but when you’re on the court these things become more like muscle memory.
Advantages Of Using Two Hands When Allowed
Of course, there’s advantages to putting two hands on the basketball at the same time, when legal obviously. One of those advantages is that you have so much better ball control and security. When you stop and are legally allowed to put two hands on the ball, it makes it nearly impossible for defenders to take it away without committing a violation of their own. You’d have great security on it, reducing the opportunity for another person to strip it away, for you to lose your dribble, or for it to slip out of your hands and roll out of bounds.
If you were just holding the basketball with one hand, then a defender could come around and potentially swipe it away without catching a piece of your arm. Two hands make it very hard for them to knock it loose, and it adds another arm that they have to avoid without making contact with or else they get hit with a foul.
Disadvantages Of Two Hands
Mobility, no question. The disadvantage of using two hands on the ball is the lack of mobility that you have on the court. When you put a second hand on it, you’re essentially locking yourself into that position until you make another move. If you just catch a pass or a rebound, then you can’t move until you decide where you want to go with the ball, and then start your dribble from there. If you stop in the middle of a dribble, you’re stuck in place or else a violation is coming your way.
Either way, putting two hands on the ball means that you are usually stopping until you see a different opening pop up. Sometimes this could help people see the floor better and scan their surroundings, and sometimes it could force people to think too much and not react to what’s going on around them.