What is Basketball and how it plays ?

Two years after the first professional basketball game was played six teams for Philadelphia and New Jersey formed the National basketball league(NBL).

Basketball dates back as far as 1891 and since then has evolved into a sport played around the world

Winning a game of basketball is pretty simple; score more points than your opponents in the allotted game time. If the scores are tied at the end then an extra quarter will be played until a winner is found.

Many countries have adopted the game such as Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and parts of Asia, but it is America where the biggest and most lucrative league in the world lives: the NBA (National Basketball Association).

Each team can have a maximum of 5 players on the court at any one time. Substitutions can be made as many times as they wish within the game.

Shortly after the NBL formed, other leagues began to form all over the Eastern United States including the Philadelphia Basketball League, Eastern League.

The ball can only be moved by either dribbling (bouncing the ball) or passing the ball. Once a player puts two hands on the ball (not including catching the ball) they cannot then dribble or move with the ball and the ball must be passed or shot.

New York State League, and the Interstate league. Most early basketball leagues never lasted more then a few weeks, the NBL itself only lasted five seasons.

After the ball goes into a team’s half and they win possession back the ball must then make it back over the half way line within 10 seconds. If the ball fails to do so then a foul will be called and the ball will be turned over.

In 1902 the New England Basketball League got a huge boost in national exposure when it allowed an African American named Bucky Lew play in a game

Each team has 24 seconds to at least shot at the basket. A shot constitutes either going in the basket or hitting the rim of the basket. If after the shot is taken and the ball fails to go in the basket then the shot clock is restarted for another 24 seconds.

1901 marked a landmark year for the game of basketball as colleges began sponsoring games. At first only a few Colleges participated including Yale, Minnesota, Dartmouth, Columbia, Chicago, Utah, and Navy.

In the early days of collegiate sports most teams played less then 10 games with the lucky ones playing maybe 15 or 16.

In 1901 Yale would go 10 and 4 to win the first national college championship. The next year the University of Minnesota would go 11 and 0 to become the first undefeated team in basketball.

The team trying to score a basket is called the offence whilst the team trying to prevent them from scoring is called the defence. The defence must do all they can to stop the offence from scoring by either blocking a shot or preventing a shot from being fired.

These early games always had problems with injuries, as fouling rules where in place but a shortage of trained referees made it impossible to have good refs at every game. In the time from 1905-1910 many American activist groups were calling for the government to step in and place restrictions on the sport.

In 1910 President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt urged the colleges of America to create a governing body for itself before it was too late, in the summer of 1910 they did and formed the Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

After each successful basket the ball is then turned over to the opposition.Fouls committed throughout the game will be accumulated and then when reached a certain number will be eventually be awarded as a free throw.

A free throw involves one playerfrom the offensive team (the player fouled) to take a shot unopposed from the free throw line. Depending on where the foul was committed will depend on the number free throws a player gets.

Violations in basketball include travelling (taking more than one step without bouncing the ball), double dribble (picking the ball up dribbling, stopping then dribbling again with two hands),

goaltending (a defensive player interferes with the ball travelling downwards towards the basket) and back court violation (once the ball passes the half way line the offensive team cannot take the ball back over the half way line).

Basketball, game played between two teams of five players each on a rectangular court, usually indoors. Each team tries to score by tossing the ball through the opponent’s goal, an elevated horizontal hoop and net called a basket.

The only major sport strictly of U.S. origin, basketball was invented by James Naismith (1861–1939) on or about December 1, 1891, at the International Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School (now Springfield College), Springfield, Massachusetts, where Naismith was an instructor in physical education.

For that first game of basketball in 1891, Naismith used as goals two half-bushel peach baskets, which gave the sport its name. The students were enthusiastic.

After much running and shooting, William R. Chase made a midcourt shot—the only score in that historic contest.