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Basketball is a ball sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing the ball through a basket, or "hoop".
Basketball is highly suited to viewing by spectators, as it is primarily an indoor sport, played in a relatively small playing area, or "court", with only ten players, and using a large ball which is easy to follow. Additionally, the lack of protective gear makes it easy to see the reactions of the players. It is one of the most popular sports in the United States, and is also popular in other parts of the world, including South America, southern Europe, and the former Soviet Union, especially Lithuania.
Basketball is unusual in that it is a sport that was invented essentially by one man.
In 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals in Springfield, Massachusetts, sought an indoor game of vigor and grace to keep young men occupied during the long New England winters. Legend has it that after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote up some basic rules, nailed up a peach basket on the gym wall, and got his students to start playing his new game. The first official game was played there on January 20, 1892. "Basket ball", the name suggested by one of his students, was popular from the beginning and, with its early adherents being dispatched to YMCAs thorougout the United States, was soon being played all over the country.
Interestingly, while the YMCAs were responsible for developing and initially spreading the game, within a decade they were discouraging the new sport, as rough play and rowdy crowds seemed to detract from what they saw as their primary mission. Other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and eventually professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World War One, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules of the game.
Naismith himself was instrumental in establishing the college game, coaching at University of Kansas for six years before handing the reins there to renowned coach Phog Allen. Naismith disciple Amos Alonzo Stagg brought basketball to the University of Chicago, while Adolph Rupp, a student of Naismith at Kansas, enjoyed great success as coach at the University of Kentucky. College leagues date back to the 1920s, and the first national championship tournament, the National Invitation Tournament in New York, followed in 1938. College basketball was rocked by gambling scandals from 1948-1951, when dozens of players from top teams were implicated in game fixing and point-shaving. Partly spurred by the association of New York, the site of the "N.I.T.", with many of the fixers, the NCAA national tournament eventually surpassed the N.I.T. in importance. Today it is rivaled only by the baseball World Series and the Super Bowl of American Football in the American sports psyche.
In the 1920s there were hundreds of professional basketball teams in towns and cities all over the United States. There was little organization to the professional game. Players jumped from team to team, and teams played in armories and smoky dance halls. Leagues came and went, and barnstorming squads such as the New York Rens and the Original Celtics played up to two hundred games a year on their national tours. In 1946, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed, organising the top professional teams and leading to greater popularity of the professional game. An upstart organization, the American Basketball Association, emerged in 1967 and briefly threatened the N.B.A.'s dominance until the rival leagues merged in 1975.
The NBA has featured many famous players, including George Mikan, the first dominating "big man"; ball-handling wizard Bob Cousy and defensive genius Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics; Wilt Chamberlain (who originally played for the barnstorming "Harlem Globetrotters"); all-around stars Oscar Robertson and Jerry West; more recent big men Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, playmaker John Stockton; and the three players who many credit with ushering the professional game to its highest level of popularity, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.
Basketball was first included in the Olympic Games in 1936, although a demonstration tournament was held back in 1904. This competition has been mostly dominated by the United States, whose team has won all but three titles. The Americans' first Olympic loss was in a controversial final game in Munich in 1972 against the Soviet Union. When the United States began to allow its professional players to compete, starting with the "Dream Team" of 1992, their dominance briefly resurfaced. However with the developing programs elswhere, other national teams are now very competitive with the United States. A team made up of NBA players was badly beaten in the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis, finishing sixth, behind Yugoslavia, Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, and Spain. In 2004 the Olympic gold medal was won by Argentina and the silver by Italy; the United States took the bronze
Women's basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976, with teams such as Brazil and Australia rivaling the American squads. Women's professional basketball has also emerged, with the N.B.A.-backed Women's National Basketball Association beginning play in 1997.
World-wide, basketball tournaments are held at many age levels, such as five to six year olds (usually called biddy-biddy), seven to eight year olds, nine to ten year olds, eleven to thirteen year olds (biddy), teenagers, jr. high-schoolers, high school, college, the professional leagues and master leagues. Tournaments are held at each level for both males and females.
Internationally, the sport is governed by FIBA, Fédération Internationale de Basketball. The global popularity of the sport is reflected in the nationalities represented in the NBA. Here are just a few of the outstanding international players who have played or still play in the NBA: Argentina's Emanuel Ginobili; Serbia and Montenegro's Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojaković; Croatia's Toni Kukoč and Dražen Petrović; Lithuania's Arvydas Sabonis, Germany's Dirk Nowitzki; Puerto Rico's Carlos Arroyo; China's Yao Ming; Canada's Steve Nash; andAustralia's Luc Longley. Many outstanding international players, including Serbia and Montenegro's Dejan Bodiroga, past Olympian Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, and recent Lithuanian Olympian Sarunas Jasikevicius, have chosen to decline N.B.A. opportunities.
The goal for each team is to throw the ball through their basket while preventing their opponents from doing so on their own. Teams score two points for putting the ball in the basket from close to medium range, three points for long-range shots, and one point for foul shots.
On the professional level, games are played in four quarters of 10 (international) or 12 minutes (NBA) each, while NCAA college games consist of two 20-minute halves. Realistically, games take much longer than this allotted time, since the game clock stops when the ball goes out of bounds or when a foul is committed.
In informal street (also known as pickup) games, an arbitrary number of points by one team is set as the game's end point. Free throws are not used, and fouls are called, by the fouled player, only when a violation is flagrant or prevents a score. In halfcourt games, only one basket is used, with the requirement that the ball be "cleared", or passed back behind the halfcourt line, whenever possession of the ball changes. A "make-it-take-it" convention is followed in some regions, whereby the scoring team retains possession of the ball. Because free throws are not generally used, baskets made in pick-up games generally count as one point. However, some courts have begun to add the three-point goal to their pick-up scenario, with two points for other field goals, resulting in a higher designated end point for the game.
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The ball may be advanced toward the basket either being passed from player to player, or by a single player running while continuously "dribbling" the ball off the floor.
Defensive players use a wide array of techniques to attempt to prevent opponents from advancing the ball or shooting. Defensive players who push, shove or impede their opponents risk getting called for a "foul". Players who are fouled either receive the ball to pass inbounds again, or receive a "free throw" shot if they are fouled in the act of shooting. One point is awarded for making a "free throw", which is attempted from a line 15 feet from the basket.
If a team surpasses a pre-set limit of total fouls in a given period, the opposing team is awarded free throws on subsequent fouls.
If a player commits five fouls in one game (six in some professional leagues, including the NBA) he is disqualified from the rest of the game, or "fouled out". Arguing with a referee, fighting with another player, or interfering with a ball after it falls through the basket are among the grounds for a "technical foul". A player or coach with two technical fouls is disqualified from the game.
During the first five decades of basketball's evolution, a player occupied one of three positions, as follows: two guards, two forwards, and one center. Since the 1980s, more specific positions have evolved, as follows:
On occasion teams will choose to use a three guard offense, replacing one of the forwards or the center with a third guard.
Any number of player substitutions are allowed during the game, although subs can only enter a game during a stoppage of play.
Male players generally wear shorts and a sleeveless top, and high-top sneakers that provide extra ankle support. Female players have worn shirts and skirts in the past, but most female players now wear uniforms identical to those worn by men.
Being tall is a clear advantage in basketball. Very few male professional players stand less than six feet (1.83 m); few women in professional leagues are shorter than 5'6" (1.68 m). In men's professional leagues, guards tend to be the smallest players, though they can occasionally be taller, such as Magic Johnson (6'9"/2.06 m) and Toni Kukoc (6'11"/2.11 m). Forwards in the men's professional leagues are almost all 6'6" (1.98 m) or taller; the smallest centers are about 6'9" (2.06 m). Many centers, and a few forwards, are over 7 feet (2.13 m). The tallest players ever in the NBA, Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muresan, are 7'7" (2.31 m). Currently, the tallest NBA players are Shawn Bradley and Yao Ming, both listed at 7'6" (2.29 m).
Spin-offs from basketball may include korfball, netball, slamball and ringboll.
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