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| Basketball is a sport in which two teams compete to throw a ball
into each other's basket. The team that manages to score the maximum
number of points or baskets, wins. |
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| Facts |
| * The
first basketball league matches featured a chicken-wire cage
surrounding the court. The cage was used to separate players
from hostile fans and hence basketball players came to be
known as 'cagers.' |
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The tallest basketball player is Manute Bol (US) who has
played for the Philadelphia 76ers
among other teams. The height of this giant is almost 7'7"
(seven feet, seven inches)! |
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*
Wilt Chamberlain, a Philadelphia player, scored 100 points in
a game against New York on March 2, 1962. That is the most
points scored by one player in the course of a single
game.
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The Chicago Bulls, the team that Michael Jordan represented,
has won all six NBA Finals in which it has
appeared. |
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| * In
India, the Services team has won the maximum number of
national basketball titles. They won the title continuously
from 1958-68 and then again in a row from 1970-80!
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Basketball was invented in the United States. It is one of
the few games in the world that have a one-man founder. James
Naismith, a PT teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts,
invented this game in 1891. Naismith wanted to try a new game for
his students. He had played rugby and disliked the roughness of
physical contact between players. | |
| Naismith gathered his students and started playing a new game by
using two straw baskets as nets. Since there was no basketball to play
with, the players used a soccer ball. |
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Did you
know? |
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The early basketball players used a ladder to
get the ball out of the basket as the baskets were closed from
the bottom. | |
Basketball became well known all over the world after the 2nd World
War. The game became an Olympic sport in
1936 at the Berlin games in Germany. World Basketball Championships
began in 1950 for men and in 1953 for women. The game's popularity
peaked with the rise of such stars as "Magic" Johnson and Michael
Jordan in the 1980s. | |
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Famous
basketball teams (all from the US!) |
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Chicago
Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, New York
Knicks. | | |
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The National
Basketball Association (NBA) of the United States was formed after a
merger of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball
Association of America (BAA) in 1950.
In India the
first national basketball event was held at Delhi in 1934.
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| Basketball is played between two teams of five players each on a
rectangular court (50 feet by 94 feet), usually indoors. |
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A goal, or
basket (18 inches in diameter) is hung 10 feet from the ground
at each end of the court. |
| An
inflated basketball measures about 9 and a 1/2 inches in
diameter and weighs around 600
grams. | |
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| A typical basketball game consists of two periods of 20 minutes
with a 10 minute break in the middle. |
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To
begin the game, the referee tosses the ball in the center of the
court with a player from both sides standing close by.
When
the ball is tossed, the two opponents try to capture the ball with
hand play and pass it to their teammates.
The
player who gets the ball has 3 choices - he can dribble (bouncing
the ball with one hand), pass it to a teammate or shoot the ball
towards the other team's
basket. | |
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| Points are scored when the ball is successfully put in the
opponents' basket. However, not all baskets have the same number of
scores. |
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One point is awarded for a
successful foul shot or free throw (generally awarded for a penalty
by a player of the opposing team).
Two points are scored for a
field goal i.e. a goal scored in the normal course of
play.
However, if the ball is netted with a shot from beyond the
nearly 23 feet semicircle marked on the ground, three points are
scored. | |
| After each basket, the ball is put back in play by throwing it in
from outside the play area by one of the players of the team that has been
scored against. |
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Penalties are given for two types of offenses - fouls and
violations. The most common violations are moving the ball without
dribbling, using both hands while dribbling, stopping while
dribbling and then starting again and trying to stop a shot as it
moves into the basket.
Small
offenses are punished by giving the ball to a member of the opposing
team, who throws it in the direction of his team members from out of
the play area. |
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A free
throw (at 15 feet distance from the basket) may also be awarded to a
particular player if any member of the opposing team fouled against
him. Sometimes two free throws may be awarded, if the player was
fouled while trying to basket.
There
are other rules based on minute details -- like how many seconds a
player can keep the ball before
moving. | |
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AIR BALL - A shot that misses the basket
completely.
BACKCOURT - The playing area
between a team's own end line and the central circle. |
| BASKET - An iron ring 18
inches in diameter and 10 feet above the ground into which the ball
is thrown and points are scored. |
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BLOCKING - A foul committed
by physically coming in the way of an opponent's
movement. | |
| CHARGING - A foul committed when
a player with the ball runs into an opponent who is standing still.
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CUT - A quick move to the
basket.
DOUBLE FOUL - When two
players of opposing teams are both guilty of going against the rules
and touching. Both players are given a personal foul and the match
restarts with the referee throwing the ball between them.
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DOUBLE DRIBBLE - A violation that occurs when a
player stops dribbling and then starts again.
DRIBBLE - To move the ball by bouncing it with
one hand.
END LINES - The two lines
running across the width of the court and marking its
boundaries.
FAST BREAK - When the
offensive team moves quickly toward the basket, catching the defence off
guard.
FORWARD - Player on the team's
attacking position, the ones in the front.
FIELD GOAL - A goal taken during play and not
from a free throw.
FREE THROW - A
throw awarded to a player for a foul committed by a player of the opposing
team.
FRONT COURT - That half of the
court where the attacking team is playing.
GOALTENDING - Touching a ball on it's way to the
basket.
HOOP - The iron ring of the
basket.
HOLD - To physically interfere in
the movements of another player.
HOOK SHOT - An overhead shot, with the players'
back to the basket.
JUMP BALL - When the referee tosses the ball
between two opponents to resume play.
JUMP SHOT - An attempt at scoring a goal while
jumping with the player hitting the ball with one hand.
LAYUP - A one-hand shot made from close to the
basket.
MAN-TO-MAN DEFENCE - A type of
defence where each player guards a specific opponent.
MIDCOURT LINE - The line, which divides the court
in half.
OFFENSIVE FOUL - A foul
committed by a player when his team has possession of the ball.
PASS - Throwing, batting, or rolling
the ball to another player. The main types are (1) the chest pass (2) the
bounce pass (3) the hook pass (side or overhead) (4) the baseball pass
(the ball is thrown a longer distance with one hand in a manner similar to
a baseball throw).
PERSONAL FOUL -
Illegal body contact between two players of opposing teams.
PICK - A player who, without causing contact,
delays or prevents an opponent from reaching his desired
position.
REBOUND - A shot that
bounces off the basket's rim or backboard.
SLAM
DUNK - Jamming the ball down into the basket, only possible for
tall players.
TECHNICAL FOUL - A
violation of the rules of conduct, but one that does not involve any
physical contact between players.
TURNOVER - When the opposing team takes the ball
from an attacking team before any member has a chance to try for a
basket.
VIOLATION - A small breach of
the rules that is not counted as a foul. |
| The world's greatest basketball
player |
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Michael
Jordan is not only the world's best known basketball star, but with
21 NBA records, he is also probably the best player the game has
ever produced.
But
this was not always the case.
| Did you know? |
| In high school, Michael Jordan was dropped from the
team! Instead of giving up, Michael decided to work even
harder at the game. He soon found a place in the basketball
team and this time, kept it for good.
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Jordan became
very popular after he won a match for his university, scoring the winning
shot in the last minute! The famous Chicago
Bulls asked him to join them soon after. His great skills earned him the
title of the 'rookie' or new player of the year, one of the many titles he
won. Due to his great moves and court skills he came to be popularly known
as Air Jordan.
Michael
Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to three straight World Championships (1991,
1992, and 1993). He retired soon after but made a return in 1995. He then
led the Bulls to a record year in 1996 which included another World
Championship win, proving that he was still the world's best
player. |
| Off the field |
| Michael or
'Mike' as he is popularly known, has modeled for various
advertising campaigns (Nike even has a line of shoes and
clothes named after him), acted in the movie Space Jam with
Bugs Bunny and has even successfully run his own restaurant!
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Before he finally retired from the game in Jan 1999,
Jordan managed to set the maximum
number of NBA records of
any player including the most seasons as the leagues leading
scorer (10). |
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