Rules of the Game 

Basketball is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. Object of the game is to shoot the ball through a hoop at the end of each side of the court for the most number of points. The game starts in the middle of the court in the circle with a ‘jump ball.’ The ball can be advanced by passing to a teammate, throwing, rolling or bouncing the ball while moving (‘dribbling’). If the offense gains possession of the ball behind the midcourt line, they have 10 seconds to get it across midcourt. Once the offense crosses the midcourt line, they cannot cross back or they will forfeit possession. The offense then has 24 seconds (NBA) or 30 seconds (NCAAM) to shoot the ball. If the offense makes the basket, they get points and it is the other team’s possession. 3 points are given to players that shoot from beyond the ‘three point line’ and two points are given to players who score from inside that line. An offensive player can only be inside the inner box by the basket (‘paint’ or ‘key’ for 3 seconds). After the ball is shot but missed, it is anyone’s ball and any player that gets the ball gets credit for a ‘rebound.’ If a player is fouled in the act of shooting then that player gets to shoot a certain number of times (‘free throws’). Free throws are only worth 1 point. The number of times depends on where and when the foul occurs. If a player is fouled not in the act of shooting, the opposite team’s player gets a pass in-bounds giving them possession of the ball. If the ball goes out of bounds, the team that did not touch the ball last gets to throw in the ball. The team with the most points at the end of regulation wins.

• Passing types- chest pass, bounce pass, overhead pass, outlet pass (pass after the defensive rebound)
• A defender can ‘block’ a shot. A ‘blocked’ shot is when the shot is altered or the ball is prevented from reaching the goal. The defender cannot touch the ball after it’s in the downward half of its arch or after the ball has touched the backboard or is directly above the rim.

Free Throws

If the foul is outside the three point line in the act of shooting then the player gets 2 free throws. If the player is fouled within the three point line then the player gets 3 shots. If the player made the shot on the fouled play then the amount of free throws decreases by one. Each player can only cause a foul 5 times per game (NCAAM) and 6 times per game (NBA) then they must sit out the remainder of the game (‘fouling out’). If a team goes over a certain number of fouls per half, the other team is ‘in the bonus.’ From then on in that half, the other team will get to take free throws regardless if the foul was a shooting foul.

• • In the event of a non-shooting foul, the player must make the 1^st free throw to get a 2^nd (see ‘One-in-one’)
  • NCAAM:
    • 7^th foul in a half, the other team gets an one-and-one free throws for a non-shooting foul.
    • Double Bonus: After the 10^th foul, the other team gets 2 free throws (whether the first one is made or not)
    • Team fouls reset at half
  • The NBA rules on ‘in the bonus’ are much more complicated.
    • Bonus rules start after the 5^th team foul however only defensive and loose-ball fouls count towards the team foul penalty. Bonus rules also start if the team fouls 2xs in the last 2 minutes of a quarter after not reaching the 5 fouls before that point.
• Interesting chart for NBA Free Throws
  • The other team cannot interfere with a free throw but they can get rebound on the last one if the shot is unsuccessful.

Timing:

• • NBA games are split into 4 quarters of 12 minutes
  • NCAAM is 2 halves of 20min
  • NCAAW have 4 quarters of 10 min
  • The clock stops when a play is not active
    • Typically games take about 2 hours to play; TV usually reserves 2.5 hour blocks

Timeouts:

• Timeouts can only be called if the ball is dead or the player’s team is in sole possession
• Timeouts are often used to stop momentum and/or to regroup, organize the team to execute a certain play or game strategy
• NCAA: Each team gets one 60 second timeout and four 30 second timeouts and 8 TV timeouts (first dead ball under 16, 12, 8, and 4 minutes remaining in each half)
  • If a timeout is taken within 30 seconds of a TV timeout, then the TV timeout is ignored
  • If not a televised game, each team gets four 75 second and two 30 second timeouts
  • Players and coaches can call timeouts
• NBA: Each quarter has 2 mandatory timeouts and each team gets 7 timeouts per half all lasting 75 seconds to use throughout the entire game, however a team cannot call more than 2 timeouts in the final 3 minutes of the game
  • So if you see a team call a timeout before the last 3 minutes of the game, they probably had an extra one that they wouldn’t be able to use
  • Only players and head coach can call timeouts
• If a timeout is called and granted by the official even though the team is out of timeouts, the team that called it gets a technical foul

Positions:

• Point Guard (aka 1) – fastest player and makes sure it gets to the right guy at the right time (playmaker – aka Zach Efron’s character Troy in HSM)
• Shooting Guard (aka 2) – best ball handling skills and best perimeter player
• Small forward (aka 3) – shorter more agile players to score by penetrating up to the basket and gets rebounds. Similar jobs as shooting guard.
• Power Forward (aka 4) – plays under the basket or guards the point guard. Mostly defensive position. He will be the guy who has his back to the basket.
• Center (aka 5) – tallest and strongest and uses this to score, also goes for rebounds based on height and protects the basket on defense. Similar to power forward.

Other things to know:

• Unlimited subs but only when play is stopped
• The basket is 18” in diameter and 10 ft high
• Basketball is 9.4” in diameter
• The basketball court is 91ft x 50ft
• OT is 5 min periods
• Last year’s NBA Champions: Warriors (2022)
• Last year’s NCAAM Champion: Baylor (2022)

If you found words that you don’t understand, check the Basketball Vocab page.