Basketball is a very popular team sport which is followed closely by sports news providers. The sport consists of two teams that compete against one another to score the maximum number of goals within a stipulated period of time. Both teams include five players each who try to score these points by passing the ball through the 10 foot high hoop also referred to as the goal. There are a list of organized rules that these players must abide by.
Probably the most popular games around the globe, points in basketball are scored by shooting the ball through the basket through the means of either throwing the ball from across a distance or by dunking or slamming the ball through the basket ring. The ball is advanced between players by passing it or by dribbling it. There are restrictions that foresee any disorderly physical contact or violating the means by which the ball is passed resulting in a foul.
After the given time the team that makes the highest score is declared the winner, however, sometimes in case of a tie, an overtime or additional time may be given to conclude the game.
There are several strategies which are implemented to advance the standing of the team and increase its probability of winning. Positioning of players, throwing and dribbling techniques, defense and offence strategies all play a very vital role in this. It is often seen that mostly the tallest player in the team is positioned at the center or even in the forward positions and the guard positions are provided to players that are adept at handling the ball well or are high on speed.
Basketball started in the initial 1800s and has now significantly evolved since. Initially played with a soccer ball, the basketball design kept changing. Finally in the 1950s the orange basketball was designed and has long been inplay.
Basketball too, just like American football, initially developed and rose to popularity as being a college game. The 1st inter-college basketball match is said to held in 1895 in Hamline University. As basketball increasingly began to remain in sports news the necessity for a basketball association arose. This led to the formation of the Basketball Association of America in 1946. The name of this association ended up being changed to the National Basketball Association following its merger together with the National Basketball League in 1949.
The National Basketball Association or the NBA as it is more popularly known is made up of 30 teams from North America and zone team from Canada. The NBA is the recognized governing body for basketball in the USA as decided by way of the International Basketball Federation. The regular NBA basketball season sees an overall total of 82 games being played by each team. Of those 41 games are played in the teams home base along with the rest in other locations.
Probably the most comprehensive basketball sports news is given in Sporting News, which is an American sports news magazine. It follows the NBA games closely and also gives an unofficial, yet very widely publicized, “Executive of the Year” award for the general manager of the best performing team.