UPWARD SPORTS PROGRAM
Basketball Fun Facts
The following are some fun basketball facts gleaned from the internet.
- James Naismith, a teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, is credited with inventing basketball in 1891.
- The first "hoops" were actually just peach baskets and the first backboards were made of wire.
- The game became an official Olympic event at the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936.
- Two leagues called the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged after the 1948-49 season to become today's National Basketball Association (NBA).
- The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA championships (17), including seven straight from 1960 to 1966.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons in the NBA, holds the record for most points scored in a career with 38,387.
- On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in one game against New York. That is the most one player has ever scored in one game.
- The NBA instituted the three-pointer before the 1979-80 season, an idea it borrowed from the ABA.
- The Chicago Bulls have won all six NBA Finals in which they've appeared.
- Michael Jordan retired in January 1999, but returned to play in 2001. He has scored more points (5,987) in the playoffs than any other player.
- The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Mass.
- The Mountainside United Methodist Upward program played its first game in their new Mountainside Activity Center (MAC) on January 26th, 2013.
- A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches (45.7 cm) in diameter.
- The backboard measures 6 feet (182.9 cm) by 3.5 feet (106.7 cm).
- The white outlined box on the backboard is 18 inches (45.7 cm) high and 2 feet (61.0 cm) wide.
- And the top of the rim is exactly 10 feet (305 cm) above the court and 4 feet (121.9 cm) inside the baseline.
- The basketball is also regulated, and is different for men and women:
- For men, the official ball is 29.5 inches in circumference (size 7, or a "295 ball") and weighs 22 ounces (624 g).
- For women, the official basketball size is 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in circumference (size 6, or a "285 ball") with a weight of 20 ounces (567 g).
- A diagram and description of the NBA Court layout, is shown below
