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History of basketball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (December 2011)
The history of basketball begins with the invention of the game in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Throughout the 20th century, leagues developed such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Basketball League (NBL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), among others.

Contents [hide]
1 Early history
1.1 Invention of the game
1.2 Rules
1.3 The first basketball game
2 YMCA, U.S. Army spread development
3 Professional leagues, teams and organizations
4 American colleges lead the way
5 NBA founded
6 African-Americans in basketball
7 American Basketball Association
8 First international games
9 Formation of FIBA
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 External links
Early history[edit]


James Naismith
Invention of the game[edit]
The game of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 to condition young athletes during the winter. It consisted of peach baskets and a soccer style ball. He published 13 rules for the new game. He divided his class of 18 into 2 teams of 9 players each and set about to teach them the basics of his new game. The objective of the game was to throw the basketball, into the fruit baskets nailed to the lower railing of the gym balcony. Every time a point was scored, the game was halted so the janitor could bring out a ladder and retrieve the ball. After a while, the bottoms of the fruit baskets were removed. The first public basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1892.[1]

Rules[edit]
Main article: Rules of basketball
The ball may be thrown forward with one or two hands.
The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands (never with the fist).
A player can't...

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