If you love a good team sport, Basketball could be exactly your thing. It is a sport that can be played almost anywhere since baskets and courts are often set up in cities for everyone to play on. You do not even necessarily need fellow players, if you have a ball, you can simply practice on your own.
Basketball is a very straightforward game but this article cannot go into full detail about it and therefore only the most important things about basketball are mentioned below.
Terms
Before getting into the positions and rules, I want to give you a short overview of some terms to make the article more understandable.
Offense: The team with the ball
Defense: The team without the ball
Rebound: When a shot bounces off the rim or backboard. There are two kinds of rebound: Offensive rebound (a player can dribble, pass or shoot) and defensive rebound (a player can dribble or pass)
Free throw: Free throws are awarded to a player by the referee if the player, their team or an official gets fouled by the opposing team. The shooter stands behind the free throw line with up to four players from each team lining up on either side of the free throw lane. If the shooter misses, the players are allowed to capture the rebound. Depending on the type and distance of the foul, a player receives one to three free throws.
Pivot foot: The foot on which a player needs to stay planted in the same spot until a pass or shot is made after receiving a ball or stopping a dribble.
Positions
Five players from each team can play on the court at the same time. Each player has one of the following positions assigned to them:
Center:
This player is usually the tallest player on the team and plays near the basket. On offense, they try to score on close shots and rebound. On defense, they try to block the opponent’s shots and rebound their misses.
Power Forward:
Similar to the center, this player plays near the basket, rebounds and defends taller players, as well as taking long shots.
Small Forward:
This player plays against small and large players while roaming all over the court, as well as taking long and close shots.
Point Guard:
This player is usually the team’s best dribbler and passer and runs the offense. They defend the opponent’s point guard and try to steal the ball.
Shooting guard:
This player is usually the team’s best shooter. They can make shots from long distances and are good dribblers.
Gameplay
The game begins with the so-called “tip-off”. One player from each team stands at center court while the referee tosses the ball high up between both players. These players try to get their hands on the ball to tip it to a teammate.
In advance, each team is assigned a basket they have to defend; the other basket is therefore their scoring basket. The baskets are beings switched at halftime.
By dribbling and passing, the ball moves down the court toward the basket.
After scoring a basket, the ball is awarded to the other team. An inbound pass (into the court) is made from the baseline which is behind the basket of the defending basket. A player has five seconds to pass the ball inbounds. When the ball crosses the sideline, the opposing team of the player to last touch the ball gets a throw-in and passes the ball inbounds from the spot where the ball crossed the sideline.
Once a team gains possession of the ball, they have 24 seconds to attempt a shot at the hoop. If the so-called “shot clock” runs out, the opposing team gets the ball.
Every time the referee blows the whistle, the game clock stops and resumes when the game goes on.
A basketball game is divided into four periods, each six to 12 minutes long, depending on what level you play on (high school, college, pro leagues, etc.) Between the first and second periods and the third and fourth periods is a break of around three minutes. Between the second and third periods is the halftime break which is often around 10-20 minutes long. If the score is tied at the end of regulation time, the game goes into overtime.
Points
A team scores two points when they make a basket within the three-point line. If a basket is made outside of the three-point line, the team gets three points. A free throw is worth one point.
Violations
Double dribble violation:
Using both hands to dribble the ball or starting to dribble the ball again after just stopping a dribble. When a dribble is stopped, the ball has to be passed or shot.
Carrying violation:
Dribbling the ball with the hand too far to the side of the ball or under the ball.
Traveling violation:
A player takes more than two steps without dribbling the ball or moving the pivot foot once stopped dribbling.
Backcourt violation:
The offensive team takes more than ten seconds to get the ball out of their half and over the mid-court line or the offensive players go back across the line.
Goaltending violation:
A defensive player touches the ball while it is on the way down toward the basket during a shot or after the ball has touched the backboard and has a chance of going into the hoop.
Lane violation:
A player violates the three-second rule and stays in the opposition key for more than three seconds without attempting a shot.
Fouls
Personal fouls:
They are the most common type of foul and include any type of illegal physical contact (hitting, pushing, grabbing, holding, tipping).
Intentional foul:
Physical contact with no effort to steal the ball.
Technical foul:
Bad behavior during the game without player contact or the ball (foul language, arguing, obscene gestures).
Flagrant foul:
A personal or technical foul that is extreme and severe.
Team fouls:
The team committing the foul has seven or more fouls in the game (one-and-one) or the team committing the foul has ten or more fouls.
Now that you made it to the end of the article, you are an expert when it comes to the basic game of basketball. All the rules and violations might seem like a lot but trust me, playing basketball is a lot more fun than it sounds on paper.
So grab your ball and start shooting baskets!
Sources:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/basics/basics.html (Jeff and Joe Haefner, May 26th, 2023)
https://jr.nba.com/basketball-positions/ (Editors of NBA, May 26th, 2023)
https://olympics.com/en/news/what-how-basketball-rules-scoring-techniques-olympics-players-positions (Utathya Nag, May 26th, 2023)