This time of the year, with the NBA and NCAA being devoutly followed on TV, basketball fever is burning up the courts, sports media and fans’ hearts around the world. If you haven’t been infected yet, these tips should help! For those hapless individuals who think that understanding the sport is beyond their ken, I bring you Basketball 101, a few short sections that should serve to alleviate all your symptoms of confusion, bewilderment and perplexity when your friends go basketball mad.
The Game: If you didn’t already know, there are two teams of five players each in a basketball game, each trying to score as many points as pos-sible by getting the basketball into in the opponents’ net (aka “making baskets”). With me so far? Good. Moving on, the rules are relatively straightforward: the team on offense (that is, the one with the ball) attempts to make baskets, and that team’s players must “dribble” (continuously bounce, one hand at a time) the ball when in motion — save two steps before shooting or passing — and cannot remain in the large painted rectangle in front of the basket for more than three seconds. To go out-of- bounds (the painted black lines surrounding the court) stops play and causes the other team to get the ball. On defense, teams attempt to prevent the opponent from making baskets and cannot commit fouls (impeding the motion of an opposing player). Also, opponents switch nets halfway through a game.
Ever wondered what the countdown right above the backboard was for? Yeah, so did I. That is the shot-clock, showing the time that the offensive team has to make a shot before they are forced to turn it over; this resets every time the ball touches the rim — 24 seconds for the NBA and 35 for NCAA games. The teams alternate on offense, during which either the shot-clock runs out or a shot is made or missed. The defense in basketball is usually either a zone (players defending a certain area of the court) or man- to-man (defending a specific offensive player).
NCAA games run for a total of 40 minutes in two halves of 20 minutes each (NBA and WNBA games are 48 minutes each). It seems simple enough, but this is further complicated by four com- mercial timeouts per half (every four minutes — the profit mech- anism in basketball). The coaches can call four 30-second timeouts and a full, one-minute timeout per game. Overtime is the extra five minutes that are allocated when the score is tied at the end of the game (double-overtime occurs if the first overtime also ends in a tie, triple-overtime and so on).
The Players:
The point-guard is the play- maker who primarily passes the ball to set up his team’s shot (which are attempts to make a basket). He is typically the smallest person on the team and usually also the best ball-handler (meaning he dribbles well while on the move).
The shooting-guard is the one who tries to score and whose role in the game is to look for shots. A very similar position to this is the small-forward, who tends to be taller and tries to rebound (se- cure the ball after a missed shot).
The center and the power-for- ward also play similar roles to each other and are typically the bigger guys on the court who play the best defense. The center is usually the biggest or tallest and functions to block shots (meaning he deflects them in mid-air).
Another feature of basketball that distinguishes it from other sports is the ability to substitute players an unlimited number of times, but only when the ball is not in play (such as after a player goes out-of-bounds or a foul is committed).
The Shots (and other terms):
Different shots determine the points scored. The three-pointer is any shot released from outside the painted three point semicircle (20.75 feet from the basket in
the NCAA, but 20 in the WNBA 23.75 in the NBA); all other attempts during live play are worth two points. Shots taken
a good distance away from the basket, with two hands and from a two-footed jump, are called jump-shots, and shots taken at point-blank range (often using the backboard) are called layups.
Other common terms used in basketball include “turnovers,” when one team commits any action resulting in the loss of the ball to the other team, and “dunks,” a more forceful version of the layup (usually involving a simultaneous grabbing of the rim).
You’ve probably heard the saying, “It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.” While morally dubi- ous, this adage applies very well to basketball. The function of the referee is to catch all infractions on the court, including fouls, traveling (taking steps without dribbling the ball) and players going out-of-bounds. The ball
is considered “dead” when the referee blows his whistle to call any such violations. Usually the most-contested referee calls, or lack thereof, are the fouls.
Fouls committed during a normal shot result in free-throws, two if the player was attempting
a two-pointer, and three if he was shooting a three; if the shot is made despite the foul, the player is awarded one free-throw. If a player or coach complains about a foul call or no-call in a way that the referee feels is unsportsmanlike, he will give a player a “technical foul,” which results in the opposing team getting to shoot a free-throw (an uncontested shot from the black line at the far end of the painted area in front of the basket) and receiving possession of the ball. Flagrant fouls are de- liberate fouls that are especially violent and not intended to make contact with the ball. These have the same penalty as a technical foul.
Each foul committed in a
half adds to the total of “team fouls” for each team, which, after a team reaches seven of them, causes their next foul to result
in free-throws for the opposing team, as opposed to the usual pass-in from the sideline. In this scenario (called “the bonus”), the player attempting the free-throw has to make the first to get a sec- ond attempt, otherwise the ball is “live” (back in play), allowing for a rebound.
National Basketball Association (NBA): In the NBA, each team plays a total of 82 games in one of two conferences, Eastern and Western. The top eight teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, where they play elimination matches in a best-of-seven series for two “rounds,” before two Conference Finals match- ups. The winners of these will face each other in the Finals to compete for the O’Brien Trophy and bragging rights for the rest of the summer.
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