Question about fundamentals

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

I've never played basketball, but I have to ask, why is it so hard for players not to swipe down when defending a shot? The metrics on successfully blocking a shot by swiping at it vs the number of times that it instead results in a foul have to show it doesn't work. Is this something that the body just does in the heat of the play; that it's just too hard to control? Why can't players just leave their arms straight up?

This happens with every team, every player, at every level.

 

[megablue]

I've never played basketball, but I have to ask, why is it so hard for players not to swipe down when defending a shot? The metrics on successfully blocking a shot by swiping at it vs the number of times that it instead results in a foul have to show it doesn't work. Is this something that the body just does in the heat of the play; that it's just too hard to control? Why can't players just leave their arms straight up?

This happens with every team, every

This guy makes good sense, I think

 

[theBlues]

How a player blocks a shot tells you a lot about that player. Swatting a block out of bounds is akin to a hard slam dunk; it gets the crowd fired up and the player gets to puff his chest out. A really smart player that doesn't care about looking tough will try to control the block and recover it and start a fast break ala Bill Russell or Bill Walton.