Everything You Need To Know About The NBA
James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor, created basketball in December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith was looking for an alternative to football that would provide his students with the same level of competition while reducing their risk of injury. Naismith’s employer requested that he find a way for his students to stay in good physical shape throughout the long, cold winter, so he invented basketball to be played indoors. Peach baskets were used as the goal posts, and a soccer ball was used in the beginning. It goes without saying that basketball has advanced considerably since then.
First Professional Game
In 1896, Trenton, New Jersey was the site of the first professional basketball game. The National Basketball League (NBL) was established on the East Coast in 1946, two years after the NBA. Four different teams—the Trenton Nationals, the New York Wanderers, the Bristol Pile Drivers, and the Camden Electrics—won the NBL title throughout the league’s six years of existence. There were a number of professional leagues in the years following the dissolution of the NBA in 1904, including the Eastern Basketball League, the Metropolitan Basketball League, and the American Basketball League.
Formation of the NBL
NBL (National Basketball League) was established in 1937. (no affiliation to the 1898 NBL). Over the course of the next decade, as many as 38 teams would play in this league, including the Minneapolis Lakers (now the Los Angeles Lakers), the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons), the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), the Buffalo Bisons/Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now the Atlanta Hawks), and the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers).
Formation of the NBA
The National Basketball League (NBL) had a competitor in the form of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946. In the league’s first three years, the champions were the Philadelphia Warriors, the Baltimore Bullets, and the Minneapolis Lakers. The BAA only lasted for three seasons before merging with the NBL in 1949 to form the NBA (NBA). The NBA often takes credit for the BAA’s past achievements. Prior to their merger, the BAA had already established much more commercial success, playing in huge arenas such as Madison Square Garden and the Boston Garden while the NBL played in small gymnasiums primarily in the midwest.
Upon its inception, the NBA featured 17 separate franchises. However, several teams folded over the subsequent years due to a lack of revenue as regular fan enthusiasm could not be maintained. In 1955, there were only eight remaining NBA teams. That year, however, the Association implemented a 24-second shot clock, which sped up games and piqued the interest of spectators.
The NBA Becomes Mainstream
The likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson helped propel the NBA to national prominence in the ’50s and ’60s. For instance, Bill Russell saw early success with the Celtics, which he led to 11 championships in 13 years. However, it wasn’t until the 3-point line was implemented in the 1979–80 season that basketball started to take on a more modern appearance.
The NBA has been dominated by a handful of superstars, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and, more recently, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. The NBA has always been star-driven, maybe more so than any other professional sports league.
- Each team’s roster (players) can have no more than 17 and no fewer than 8 members at any given time.
- At any given time, there will be a total of 15 players on the court (5 players on each team).
- Dimensions of the court are 94 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and 10 feet in height at the rim.
- Time of Game: 48 minutes (12 quarters of 4 minutes), 2 halves of 16 minutes each, the 24-second shot clock.
Gameplay
Each NBA team has a starting lineup of five players, including a point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. To start the game, the referee tosses the ball down the middle of the court between the two tallest players, who are typically the centers. When the game begins, possession of the ball is awarded to the team whose player successfully tips it back to their own team. A team has 24 seconds to score or make contact with the basket when they have possession (this is known as the shot clock).
When the offensive team has 24 seconds to shoot and score, if they miss and get the offensive rebound, they get another 24 seconds to score. When one team scores, the other team gets the ball and can dribble it back the other way for a chance at a fast break. A total of 48 minutes are played, divided into four 12-minute quarters, with the team with the most points at the end of the game declared the victor.
In the event that a player on offense is fouled while attempting a shot, he is allowed to continue shooting so long as he does not dribble after being fouled. This inconsistency, called continuation, is an essential aspect of the officiating system yet can be viewed as subjective at times. After completing his shot attempt and scoring the basket despite contact from the defense, an offensive player will have the chance to add an extra point from the free-throw line.