History of Basketball

Basketball is the favourite sport amongst many Americans. It was invented in 1891 funnily enough by a Canadian, although he was working in American for Springfield College Massachusetts. It came about when the inventor, John W. Naismith, a sports teacher, was tasked with finding a game that could be played indoors during winter when outside sports were unsuitable. The game has stayed very similar to the original sports although interestingly the original baskets did not have holes in so a ladder was needed to get the ball after every point was scored. Basketball is not only popular in the USA but all over the world. Here in Europe we are familiar with the sport from school, although leagues and public courts are lot rarer than in the USA. Basketball received international recognition in 1904 when it was accepted into the Olympic Games, which still to this day is the biggest prize in basketball. The Olympics is however still dominated by the USA who have won the gold medal on all but 4 occasions, the USSR, Yugoslavia and Argentina are the only other teams to have ever achieved a gold medal. This is of course no surprise given the popularity of the sport in the USA compared to elsewhere in the world.

How Basketball is played in the USA

In the USA the major Basketball league is the NBA (National Basketball Association). Although similar to rules commonly used in Europe some do vary slightly to what we commonly be used to. The game is played, like many American sports, in 4 quarters. Each lasting 12 minutes, with the total playing time being 48 minutes. The major difference between European basketball and the NBA is the 3 second rule, which means that a player can only hold the ball for 3 seconds in the curve. This rule applies to both attackers and defenders. Although we are familiar with this rule in Europe the main difference in the NBA is that the curve is 1 meter longer in an NBA court than it is in the basketball courts we are familiar with. This is only true however in the NBA because college leagues and public courts use the same dimensions as a European court. The NBA is also uses a slightly longer court. The dimension of a court in the NBA is 29m by 15m, while American colleges and European courts are 26m by 15m. The extra length and larger curve or arch size was introduce in the NBA to reflect the size, athleticism and skill level of the players at the level and make it more entertaining for the fans. The height of the rim however remains the same in all countries and level of the sport, standing at 3.05m, a height that seems to be dwarfed when you see NBA players easily dunk the ball. Also at all level of the game a basket from outside the curve is worth 3 points while one from inside, or even if a player is touching the line is worth 2 points. Again at all levels and in all countries basketball can never finish in draw, unlike most European sports, if the scores are level at the end of fulltime them overtime will be played until a winner is determined.

The NBA Basketball Season

The NBA is divided into 2 conferences, the Eastern and the Western. Both of these conferences are then also divided into 2 divisions. The Eastern is divided between the Atlantic and Central, while the Western is split between the Midwest and Pacific. Much to the concern of many commentators of the NBA each team will play a whopping total of 82 games before any playoffs. The winners of each division are pitted against each other and then the NBA finals is played between the winners from the Eastern and Western conferences over a series of 7 games, the winners being declared national champions.