Basketball Fun Facts
- 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.
- Current Atlanta Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens has won
more basketball games than any other coach.
- The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a 10-team rival league
to the NBA that began play in the 1967-68 season and folded nine years
later after the 1975-76 season. Four current NBA teams – Indiana,
Denver, New York, and San Antonio – originated in the ABA.
- 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.
AP Photos
|
- Michael Jordan, who
retired in January 1999 but returned to the league in 2001, 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.
Fact Monster/Information Please®
Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Basketball Fun Facts from Fact Monster:
- Sports: Olympics, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, women in sports, animal sports - Fun facts about the Olympics, sports superstitions, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, gymnastics, women in sports, and animal athletes
- Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help - Fact Monster is a free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. Get homework help and find facts on thousands of subjects, including sports, entertainment, geography, history, biography, education, and health.
|
|