Click on a Chapter Title for a more detailed description of each chapter’s contents.

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:
Chapter 15:
Chapter 16:
Chapter 17:
Chapter 18:
Chapter 19:
Chapter 20:
Chapter 21:
Chapter 22:
Chapter 23:
Chapter 24:
Appendix 1:
Appendix 2:
Appendix 3:
Origins & History of Basketball
Object of Basketball
The Basketball Court
Uniforms & Equipment
Scoring
How the Game is Played
Player Skills
Player Positions
The Officials
Violations & Fouls

Women’s Basketball
Rule Comparisons: NBA, WNBA and NCAA
Things to Look for During Play / Strategy
NBA Teams, Divisions & Conferences
NBA Season & Playoffs
NBA All-Star Game & Teams
The NBA Lottery, Draft, Trades, Free Agency & Labor Issues
The NCAA & The Final Four
Individual & Team Statistics
Deciphering Statistics in the Newspaper
NBA & College Records
Great Teams & Dynasties
Hall of Fame
Personalities: Past and Present
Glossary of Basketball Terms
Index
Officials’ Hand Signals

Chapter 1: Origins & History of Basketball

How the game was invented and its evolution to the modern game of Basketball is described.

Excerpt:
“Basketball is the only competitive team sport that completely originated in the United States. It started in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 when a . . . “

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Chapter 2: Object of Basketball

The object of the game of Basketball is briefly explained.

Excerpt:
“Basketball is a fast-paced game played by 2 teams of 5 players each. The object is to toss a ball into the opposing team’s basket to score points while . . . “

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Chapter 3: The Basketball Court

The Basketball court is explained along with some diagrams and descriptions of the following:

  • Basket, Rim and Backboard
  • Lines on the Court
  • Center Circle
  • Foul Line (or Free-Throw Line)
  • Foul Lane
  • The Key
  • 3-Point Line

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Chapter 4: Uniforms & Equipment

This section describes the players’ equipment and court equipment necessary to play the game.

Excerpt:
“Much of basketball’s popularity can be attributed to its simple needs in player and court equipment. It is easy for any player with a pair of athletic shoes to . . . “

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Chapter 5: Scoring

Describes the various ways to score including the field goal, free throw, 3-point play and 4-point play.

See Excerpt

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Chapter 6: How the Game is Played

Includes explanations and descriptions on the following:

  • Length of Game
  • Overtime
  • Choosing Sides
  • Offense vs. Defense
  • The Jump Ball
    • Starting the Game
    • Other Jump Ball Situations
    • Possession Arrow
  • Stopping Play
  • Restarting Play
    • Live Ball
    • Throw-In
  • The Clocks
    • Official Game Clock
    • Shot Clock (or 24-Second Clock)
    • Restarting the Clocks
  • Timeouts
  • Timeouts and Injuries
  • Substitutions

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Chapter 7: Player Skills

Includes the following sections:

  • Offensive Team Skills
    • Passing
  • Offensive Individual Skills
    • Dribbling
    • Faking
    • Shooting
    • Pivoting
    • Screening
  • Crossover Skills: Offensive and Defensive
    • Rebounding
  • Defensive Individual Skills
    • Guarding
    • Shot Blocking
    • Steals

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Chapter 8: Player Positions

Includes the following sections:

  • Guards
    • Point Guard
    • Shooting Guard
  • Forwards
    • Small Forward
    • Power Forward
  • Center
  • The Bench

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Chapter 9: The Officials

Includes the following sections:

  • Crew Chief
  • Referees and Umpires
  • Scorekeepers
  • Timers
  • Television Replays

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Chapter 10: Violations & Fouls

Includes the following sections:

  • Punishments
    • Toss In
    • Shooting Free-Throws
  • Infringement
    • Backcourt Violation
    • Twofold Dribble
    • Eight-Second Violation
    • Five-Second Back-to-the Basket (NBA as it were)
    • Five Seconds (College as it were)
    • Free-Throw Lane Violation
    • Unlawful Assist in Scoring
    • Kicked or Punched Ball
    • Palming
    • Swinging Elbows
    • Ten-Second Violation
    • Three-Second Violation, Defensive
    • Three-Second Violation, Offensive
    • Toss In Violation
    • Voyaging (Walking or Too Many Steps)
    • Twenty-Four Second Violation
    • Different Violations
    • Goaltending (See Excerpt)
    • Bin Interference
  • Individual and Team Fouls
    • Monitoring Personal and Team Fouls
    • Over the Limit in Team Fouls
    • Kinds of Personal Fouls
      • Blocking, Illegal
      • Charging
      • Elbow Foul
      • Battling
      • Egregious Foul
      • Unlawful Contact (e.g. handchecking)
      • Free Ball Foul
      • Hostile Foul (or Player-Control Foul)
      • Punching
      • Pushing or Holding
      • Screen, Illegal
  • Specialized Fouls
  • Far from the Play
  • Twofold Fouls

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Chapter 11: Women’s Basketball

Describes the evolution of the women’s game.

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Chapter 12: Rule Comparisons: NBA, WNBA and NCAA

Lists the differences and similarities between the WNBA, the NBA and the college rules of basketball.

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Chapter 13: Things to Look for During Play / Strategy

Includes the following sections:

  • Match-Ups
  • Where to Look
  • Half-Court Offense
    • The Give-and-Go
    • Screening Plays
      • Pinch-Post
      • Backdoor
      • Pick-and-Roll or Screen-and-Roll
  • Splitting
    • Double Screen
    • Stack
  • One-On-One Plays
  • Away From the Play
  • Fast Break
    • 3-on-2 Break
    • 2-on-1 Break
    • 3-on-1 Break
  • Full Court Press
  • Types of Defenses
    • Man-to-Man Defense
    • Zone Defense (See Excerpt)
      • 3-2 Zone
      • 2-3 Zone
      • 1-3-1 Zone
    • Man-to-Man vs. Zone
  • Three-Point Shooting
  • Timeouts
  • End of Period Strategies
    • Playing the Clock
    • Intentional Fouling and Free-Throws

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Chapter 14: NBA Teams, Divisions & Conferences

Lists the various teams, divisions and conferences in the NBA along with other useful information.
Also includes the following sections:

  • The Birth of the NBA
  • The ABA Merger
  • Recent Expansion
  • List of Current NBA Teams

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Chapter 15: NBA Season & Playoffs

Includes the following sections:

  • Regular Season
  • Playoffs

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Chapter 16: NBA All-Star Game & Teams

Discusses the history of the NBA’s annual All-Star Game and the team selection process.

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Chapter 17: NBA Lottery, Draft, Trades, Free Agency & Labor Issues

Includes the following sections:

  • The NBA Draft and Lottery
  • Expansion & Other Drafts
  • Salary Cap & Free Agency
  • Trades
  • Labor Negotiations

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Chapter 18: The NCAA & The Final Four

Includes the following sections:

  • The NCAA
  • College Teams & Conferences
  • The NCAA Tournament & Final Four
  • Office Pools
    • Simple Pool
    • Increasing Points Pool
    • Upset Pool
  • NIT

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Chapter 19: Individual & Team Statistics

Includes information on the following topics:

  • Points (PTS)
  • Scoring Average or Points-Per-Game (PPG)
  • Three-Point Field Goal Percentage (3-PT%)
  • Free-Throw Percentage (FT%)
  • Assists (A)
  • Bench Scoring
  • Defensive Rebounds (DR)
  • Offensive Rebounds (OR)
  • Total Rebounds (TR)
  • Steals
  • Turnovers
  • Blocked Shots

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Chapter 20: Deciphering Statistics in the Newspaper

Shows an example of team standings and game summaries / boxscores from a newspaper and explains how to read the various sections and information contained within.

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Chapter 21: NBA & College Records

Shows statistics on the record holders in the following categories:

  • Professional Scoring Leaders
  • Three Point Scoring
  • Free-Throw Shooting
  • Assists
  • Rebounds
  • Steals
  • Blocked Shots
  • College Scoring and Assist Leaders

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Chapter 22: Great Teams & Dynasties

Short description of the following teams:

  • Hall of Fame Teams
    • Original Celtics
    • Harlem Globetrotters
    • The N.Y. Renaissance (Rens)
  • NBA Teams
    • Boston Celtics
    • Chicago Bulls
    • Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers
  • College Teams
    • CCNY (City College of N.Y.)
    • Duke University Blue Devils
    • Indiana University Hoosiers
    • UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) Bruins

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Chapter 23: Hall of Fame

Contains a history of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame including a description of how individuals are nominated and inducted into The Hall.

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Chapter 24: Personalities: Past & Present

Short biographies of Basketball’s current stars and some of the most famous players and coaches of the past including:

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • Red Auerbach
  • Charles Barkley
  • Elgin Baylor
  • Larry Bird
  • Kobe Bryant
  • Vince Carter
  • Wilt Chamberlain
  • Bob Cousy
  • Tim Duncan
  • Julius Erving
  • Grant Hill
  • Allen Iverson
  • Phil Jackson
  • Ervin “Magic” Johnson
  • Michael Jordan
  • Bob Knight
  • Mike Krzyzewski
  • Lisa Leslie
  • Karl Malone
  • Moses Malone
  • Pete Maravich
  • George Mikan
  • Hakeem Olajuwon
  • Shaquille O’Neal
  • Pat Riley
  • Oscar Robertson
  • Dennis Rodman
  • Bill Russell
  • Dean Smith
  • David Stern
  • John Stockton
  • Dick Vitale
  • Bill Walton
  • Jerry West
  • John Wooden

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Appendix 1: Glossary of Basketball Terms

Comprehensive listing of Basketball terms. A very handy reference.
Check out our Glossary Web Page to view this reference On-Line.
Includes on-line search capability of our glossary database.

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Appendix 2: Index

Index of terms and phrases in book.

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Appendix 3: Officials’ Hand Signals

Check out our Officials’ Hand Signals Web Page.
This useful reference includes hand signal diagrams along with definition and descriptions.

Includes diagrams of the following basketball hand signals:

  • Time In
  • Timeout or Stop Clock
  • 20-Second Time-Out
  • Direction of Play
  • Jump Ball
  • Cancel Score, Cancel Play or No Score
  • 3-Point Field Goal
  • Personal Foul
  • Double Foul
  • Technical Foul
  • Loose Ball Foul
  • To Designate an Offender
  • Basket Interference
  • Goaltending
  • 3-Second Rule Violation (Offensive or Defensive)
  • Traveling
  • 24-Second Violation
  • Blocking
  • Charging
  • Holding
  • Illegal Forearm
  • Illegal Dribble or Double Dribble
  • Illegal Screen Out of Bounds
  • Illegal Use of Hands
  • Pushing

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