Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players score points by shooting (throwing) a ball through an elevated hoop located on either side of the rectangular court. To advance the ball down the court, players must bounce the ball (dribble) or pass it to a teammate. Points can be earned by shooting a three-pointer (behind the three-point line), a two-point field goal (anywhere not beyond the three-pointer), or a one-point foul shot (after the referee determines a foul). Basketball requires considerable skills related to teamwork, accuracy, ball handling, speed, agility, size and strength. Basketball has become one of the world’s most popular sports.
The average NBA basketball game lasts between two and two and a half hours. Although there are only 48 total minutes of time on the clock in an NBA game, the regulation time is stopped often for fouls, timeouts, and when the ball is out of bounds.
A triple-double in basketball is a term used to describe the impactful performance of a player that achieved a double-digit number in three of the five statistical basketball categories of points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots.
College basketball games are played with two 20 minute periods, while professional NBA basketball games consist of four quarters of 12 minutes each.
