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Basketball portal

Basketball is a competitive sport invented as a men's game in 1891 by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, but now played on every inhabited continent and by women, most often contested by two teams, each comprising five participating players, for whom substitutions may be made. A team attempts to advance a spherical ball through a cast-iron basket with attached net and backboard, elevated such that the basket rim is–in most professional leagues–ten feet (3.048 meters) from the surface of the rectanguar basketball court, for indoor games usually made of hardwood and for outdoor games usually made of asphalt, on which the sport is played.

Offensively, a player advances the ball either by bouncing it himself while stationary or moving (dribbling) or by throwing it (passing) it to a teammate, such that a player, within the time permitted by a shot clock, eventually propels (shoots) the ball toward the basket; should the ball pass through the basket, one (free throw), two (field goal), or three (three-point field goal) points, depending on the distance from which the shot is taken, are awarded; the player, in most cases, to have tendered the ball to the scoring player is credited with an assist. Several strategies are employed by a team toward the end of generating uncontested shots for players, who most often begin a given play play in distinct areas—the center and power forward proximate to the basket (top of the key); the small forward and shooting guard proximate to the three-point arc; and the point guard passim. The team to have scored more points upon the expiration of the time alloted for the game, usually between 40 and 60 minutes and divided into four equal quarters or two equal halves, is the winner, and ties are most often settled during overtime periods.

A defense attempts to prevent an offensive team from scoring and to garner the ball for itself, employing various strategies to force an opposing player to surrender (turnover) the basketball, by dispossessing (steal) a player or successfully contesting his shot (block) or, upon an opponent's making an unsuccessful shot, overcoming an opponent to win the loose ball (rebound).

Certain disruptive contact, especially that by which an advantage is gained, is penalized (as a personal foul), as is unsportsmanlike conduct (as a technical foul), with disqualification often imposed on players who accumulate a pre-arranged number of fouls in one game. Certain means of ballhandling, such as one's running with the ball while not dribbling (travelling) or one's catching the ball between dribbles (double dribbling) are proscribed and, when committed by a given team, result in the awarding of possession to the opposing team.

  

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The former site of the Hall of Fame
Springfield, Massachusetts

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, honors players who have shown exceptional skill at basketball, all-time great coaches, referees, and other major contributors to the game. It is separate from the Naismith Museum & Basketball Hall of Fame in Almonte, Ontario. Five entire teams have been inducted—the Buffalo Germans, the New York Renaissance, the Original Celtics, the Harlem Globetrotters, and most recently the 1966 Texas Western College team. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's mission preserves and promotes the game at all levels and serves as basketball's ultimate library of history.

It was established in 1959, with fundraising leading to an actual building opened to the public on February 17, 1968, at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. In 1985 a new building off-campus was opened near downtown Springfield on the east bank of the Connecticut River.

On September 28, 2002, the Hall of Fame found its third home in a new $45 million, 80,000 square foot (7,400 m²) shrine to the sport, located just south of the previous Hall of Fame. The facility's bolder architecture features a large, silver, semi-spherical structure (resembling a giant basketball) several stories high and a tall spire topped with an orange globe. The hall is surrounded by a shopping center of retail outlets and restaurants.

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Bob Knight, the coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, with his son Pat Knight
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Selected biography

Oscar Robertson (born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee), nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American NBA player with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Robertson played the guard position, and was a twelve-time All-Star, eleven-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in fourteen professional seasons. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season, and he is regarded as one of the best and most versatile NBA players of all time. He was a key player on the team which brought the Bucks their only NBA championship in the 1970-71 NBA season. However, his playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.

For his outstanding achievements, Robertson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, and was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their college Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998, and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006.

Robertson was also an integral part of the Oscar Robertson suit of 1970. The landmark NBA antitrust suit, named after the then-president of the NBA Players' Association, led to an extensive reform of the league's strict free agency and draft rules and, subsequently, to higher salaries for all players.

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