Basketball is a very popular team sport which is followed closely by sports news providers. The sport includes two teams that compete against one another to score the highest number of goals within a stipulated period of time. Both the teams include five players each who attempt to score these points by passing the ball through the 10 foot high hoop also referred to as the goal. There are a set of organized rules that these players must abide by.
One of the most popular games across the world, points in basketball are scored by shooting the ball in 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 actually restrictions that foresee any disorderly physical contact or violating the means through which the ball is passed causing a foul.
At the end of the given time the team that makes the highest score is declared the winner, however, sometimes in case of a tie, an overtime or added time could be provided to conclude the game.
There are numerous strategies that 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 an extremely vital role in this. It has been seen that mostly the tallest player within the team is positioned at the center or even in the forward positions and the guard positions are provided to players that are good at handling the ball well or are high on speed.
Basketball originated in the early 1800s and has significantly evolved since. Initially played with a soccer ball, the basketball design kept changing. Finally while in the 1950s the orange basketball was designed and has long been inplay.
Basketball too, much like American football, initially developed and rose to popularity as a college game. The 1st inter-college basketball match is claimed to held in 1895 in Hamline University. As basketball increasingly started to remain in sports news the need for a basketball association arose. This resulted in 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 consists of 30 teams from North America and zone team from Canada. The NBA is the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States as decided by the International Basketball Federation. The regular NBA basketball season sees a total of 82 games being played by each team. Of those 41 games are played in the teams home base and the rest in other locations.
Probably the most comprehensive basketball sports news is provided in Sporting News, that is an American sports news magazine. It follows the NBA games closely and in addition gives an unofficial, yet very widely publicized, “Executive of the Year” award for the general manager of the best performing team.