Basketball 101
By: Evan Li
Basketball is my favorite sport since it is very fast-paced and on-going, unlike other sports, such as football, in which you have to wait around 10 minutes after each play.
The goal of basketball is to dribble the ball down the court, aim toward the hoop, and throw the ball into the hoop. It takes a while to get used to the forms and positions of basketball, but once you master it, basketball can be extremely fun.
There are a couple of rules, like when you move with the basketball you have to be dribbling, and you can’t hit the shooter’s hand when they go up to shoot. In basketball, there are many fouls, which are penalties for breaking the rules. There are fouls such as shooting fouls, blocking fouls, charging fouls, 24-second violations, flagrant fouls and more. A shooting foul is a foul received for hitting the shooter’s hand when he/she goes up to shoot. The penalty for a shooting foul is 2 free-throws. A blocking foul occurs when you are in an illegal defensive position and make contact with the defender. There is a shot clock timer which is 24 seconds long. A 24-second violation occurs when you do not shoot the ball before the shot clock timer reaches zero. Another type of foul is a flagrant foul, which happens when you hurt the opponent on purpose. The penalty for this is 2 free-throws and possession of the ball.
Basketball has 3 types of shots. You can get a 1-point shot—also known as a free-throw—if you get fouled, a 2-point shot which is made anywhere inside the 3-point line, and a 3-point shot which is made outside the 3-point line (a line 23.75 feet away from the hoop). Most players go for the 2-point shots because it’s the easiest to score, other than the free throw, which can only be taken if your opponent fouls you. The free throw shot is easy because no one is guarding you, which basically makes it a free point.
One of my favorite parts of basketball are crossovers, like between the legs or behind the back and more. The best reaction you could get is when the person guarding you falls down or they twist their ankle. There are many types of moves and signature moves; some of the most famous ones are Kareem’s Sky Hook, Hakeem’s Dream Shake, Chris’s Sham God, and others.
The famous basketball league, also known as the NBA, has existed for about 70 years. In the NBA, each year has 1 dominant player, such as in 1995, when Michael Jordan played his best year. Each NBA season lasts for around 6 months unless your team makes it to the playoffs. As of the 2015-2016 season, the dominant player of the league is probably LeBron James, one of my favorite players of all time.
Basketball is very appealing to people because it is the simplest sport to practice. It only requires a ball and not much space is needed to practice. So if you love basketball, then you can play it almost any time you want, but most other sports cannot be practiced all the time, such as Soccer. Even if you have a tiny space or no one else is around, you will still be able to practice basketball. All you need is a ball and a hoop, and you’ll be good to go.
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