Basketball Reference

Basketball reference is a team sport in which two teams of five active players compete to score points by throwing a ball through an elevated vertical hoop called a basket under organized rules. The game can be played on a variety of indoor and outdoor courts. Basketball is a fast-paced, versatile game that requires a wide range of skills, including shooting, dribbling, passing, rebounding and defense.

The game was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. He used peach baskets as goals because they were available at the time. The sport rapidly became popular in the United States, and by 1920 there were hundreds of professional teams. Some of these were in smoky dance halls and armories; others were part of barnstorming traveling leagues such as the Original Celtics and Harlem Globetrotters.

A standard court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. The rim (also called the basket) is 18 inches high, and a metal backboard is mounted 10 feet above it on each end of the court. Baskets are worth two points, unless they are made from inside the three-point line, in which case they are worth three. Free throws, which are awarded to a player for certain types of fouls, are worth one point.

Each team has a designated center, usually the tallest player on the roster. This player is positioned near the basket and controls the ball by bringing it up the court to his teammates and getting them into position for shots. He also helps the team defend by stealing the ball, contesting passes and grabbing rebounds.