How Basketball Works

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Did you know that the first ever hoops were simply just peach baskets and the first backboards were made of wire? Surprisingly in 1972 college basketball was only televised regionally. Interestingly enough Walt Fraizer was the first player to get paid to where certain shoes!! Starting from the days of the peach baskets basketball has come a long way in the rules, the teams, its history, and the NBA.
Basketball was invented in 1891 by a man named James Naismith and the first game was played in December 1891. Basketball was named an Olympic sport in 1936. Two leagues called the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged after the 1948-49 season to become today’s National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA was formed in 1949. The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a 10-team rival league to the NBA that began to play in the 1967-68 season but unfortunately folded nine years later in the 1975-76 season. Four current NBA teams Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs originated in the ABA. The NBA established the three-pointer before the 1979-80 borrowing the idea from the ABA. Basketball originated in the US but is now played worldwide by both men and women. To be able to have a basketball history you must have rules.
The first formal rules were set in 1892. It is played by two teams of five (plus substitutes), usually indoors. The court can be up to 91ft long and 49ft wide. At each end there is a backboard on which a bottomless net hangs from a hoop 10ft above the floor. Basketball is played on a rectangular floor called a court. The court is broken up into two main sections by the mid-court line. The US standard court is 94ft/28.7m lo...

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...th and Wooden award in 1984.

Works Cited

Digger, Phelps, and John Walters. Basketball for dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Book Worldwide, 1997.
Elliott, Stephen P., ed. "Basketball." Webster's new world encyclopedia. New York [u.a.: Helicon, 1993. 109-10.
"Fact Monster™ from Information Please ®." Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help. 2000-2013. Pearson Education. 12 Nov. 2013 .
Giacomeli, Paul. "The Rules." Breakthrough Basketball. 06 Nov. 2013 .
Lazenby, Roland. The NBA finals: The official illustrated history. Dallas, TX: Taylor Pub. Co., 1990.
London, Steve L. "Basketball." One-volume illustrated encyclopedia. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. 70.
"Teams." NBA.com. 06 Nov. 2013 .

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