Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Basketball The Rules and Regulations!

Basketball is an all-American pastime, however, like with any sport there are a vast amount of specific rules and regulations that come with game play. This article is going to outline some of the various rules that apply to the game of basketball. However, you should be aware that it will not discuss all the rules of the game, therefore, you should read up all the information you can to ensure that you have a good understanding of everything that applies.

The basics

The sport of basketball consists of two teams. Each team has twelve players, however, only give members are allowed on the court at any given time. The basketball court consists of two baskets, and a variety of identifying lines to indicate specific spots within the court. Scoring is obtained by shots on the basket. Points for baskets and shots are as followed:

• 1 point for a free throw shot
• 2 points for a regular shot
• 3 points for a shot taken from a three point arc (known as a three-pointer)

A typical NBA basketball consists of four, twelve-minute quarters, a fifteen-minute half time, and two minute timeouts or other types of breaks. If the game goes into overtime, the periods are in five-minute increments. For a college level basketball game, they are played in halves of two, twenty-minute increments. High school level players experience four eight-minute quarters and three minute overtime periods.

Substitutions

Any basketball team may carry up to seven substitutes, which makes up the twelve players on the team. The team is not limited to the number of times a substitution can occur, however, they cannot implement the substitution until game play has ceased.

Timeouts

At the professional level, each team is limited to seven timeouts within regulation game play. However, if overtime is necessary, each team is extended two timeouts for each period. At all other levels, five timeouts are allowed in regulation and one timeout for overtime.

Ball Possession

There is a ten-second limitation on the amount of time a team can posses the ball without crossing half-court. If a team keeps the ball longer and does not cross the line at half-court, a penalty is accessed.

In terms of penalties, players within the game of basketball experience several common violations. Some of these include double-dribble, traveling, palming the ball, three-second violation, shot clock violation, fist hitting the ball, kicking the ball, throw in violations, personal fouls, and technical fouls.

Personal Fouls

This is a difficult call; however, it generally relies on the no contact rules of basketball. Fouls could include charging, tripping, or other unnecessary contact with an opposing team member.

Technical Fouls

These are more serious and at the professional level, two fouls of this type disqualify the player, three fouls at the college level. Some instances of technical fouls include having the court filled with too many players, failure to signify with hand signal after a personal foul, handling the rim of a basket, excessive timeouts, or delay of game.

Jeff Ryall runs a sports website that focuses on information about sport and sports related products. You can enjoy reading tips, tricks and techniques about golf at his site at http://basketballinfo.blogspot.com