Here are some basketball fun facts to keep you entertained. Basketball is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable sports in the world.
In honor of this great sport and its historical past there are many interesting things. The basketball fun facts are not assorted in no particular order.
– James Naismith, a teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts is credited with inventing basketball in 1891.
– The Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame is also located in Springfield.
– Naismith was Canadian.
– The first hoops were actually peach baskets with the bottom cut out.
– The first backboards were made of wire.
– The hoop was set at 10 feet exactly because that was the highest the ceiling would allow at the YMCA gym.
– Backboards were first installed in competitive games to prevent spectators sitting behind the hoop from messing with the ball.
– Basketball became an official Olympic event in 1936 at the Summer Games in Berlin.
– The National Basketball League (NBL) and Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged in 1948-49 to found what is know today as the National Basketball Association (NBA).
– The now defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) and its players invented the alley-oop and other flashy skills. The ABA was also the first league to incorporate a dunk contest into the festivities.
– The ABA was also the first league to utilize the three-point line. In 1979-80 the NBA took notice and instated the same three-point line.
– The Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks all originated from the ABA.
– The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA Championships at 17.
– Seven of those 17 NBA titles were won in consecutive years from 1960-66.
– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for most points scored in a career at 38,387 points. Kareem did that over a 20 year career.
– Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for points scored in a game at 100 points. He did that against New York on March 2, 1962. Chamberlain also leads the NBA all-time in total rebounds.
– Chamberlain, a notorious horrible free throw shooter was intentionally fouled several times in the 4th quarter in an effort to prevent him from reaching 100 points. On that night, the free throw line did not faze Chamberlain and he set a record that will probably never be broken.
– Kobe Bryant is the second all-time highest scorer in a game at 81 points.
– Lenny Wilkens has won more NBA games as a head coach than any other coach before or after him.
– The Chicago Bulls have won all six NBA Finals in which they have appeared in. All of those title winning teams were led by Michael Jordan, who many basketball experts consider the greatest basketball player of all-time.
– Jordan retired in 1999 after the Bulls had won three straight titles to pursue a career in baseball. He returned to the NBA in 2001, and led the team to three more titles. Jordan has scored more points in the playoffs, 5,987, than any other player ever.
– Robert Parish has played more games in the NBA than any other player. The number stands at 1,611 games.
– Reggie Miller owns the record for all-time three pointers made at 2,560, although Ray Allen is closely approaching that number at 2,230 three pointers made.
– Mark Price is the only player to average over 90% shooting from the free throw line for a career. Rick Berry is second all-time and amazingly shot his free throws underhanded.
– John Stockton is the all-time leader in assists. Stockton famously operated the Utah Jazz pick-and-roll with Karl Malone for years. Stockton is also number one all-time in steals.
– Houston Rocket Yao Ming is currently the tallest player in the league at 7’6, although the tallest player of all time is shared by 7’7 Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muresan. Muresan would later star in a movie alongside Billy Crystal titled, “My Giant.” The movie was about a person (played by Muresan) whose heart was too big for his over sized body.
Want more basketball fun facts? Check out nba.com…