16 questions · Sports
Five on five, a hoop just over three metres up (and only 24 seconds to score. Basketball is pure tempo): few sports pack so many cuts, fakes and spectacular shots into so little time. It was dreamed up in 1891 by a gym teacher looking to keep his students busy over winter: today it fills the biggest arenas on earth. In this pack you will pick up the rules that give the game its rhythm: why a shot is sometimes worth two points and sometimes three, what is really behind terms like traveling and double dribble, and why the shot clock never lets anyone rest. Next game, you will not just see what happens: you will understand why. Good to know: In „3x3“ basketball, Olympic since 2021, only three per team play on a single hoop. Wilt Chamberlain scored an astonishing 100 points in a single game in 1962: still the record. Stephen Curry has sunk more threes than anyone in NBA history: thousands of them. Superstar Shaquille O'Neal, of all people, made only about half his free throws throughout his career.
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
5
Including substitutes an NBA roster holds up to 15 players, but only five are ever on court at once.
💡 Did you know? In „3x3“ basketball, Olympic since 2021, only three per team play on a single hoop.
2
The NBA has had a three-point line only since 1979, international basketball since 1984: before that every field basket counted the same.
💡 Did you know? Wilt Chamberlain scored an astonishing 100 points in a single game in 1962: still the record.
3
The NBA only added the three-point line in 1979; today the long-range shot may be the modern game’s key weapon.
💡 Did you know? Stephen Curry has sunk more threes than anyone in NBA history: thousands of them.
1
Free throws are taken unguarded from the line: yet even superstars miss them regularly.
💡 Did you know? Superstar Shaquille O'Neal, of all people, made only about half his free throws throughout his career.
3.05 m
Inventor James Naismith set this 10-foot height in 1891: unchanged since, even as players keep getting taller.
💡 Did you know? At the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest the 1.68 m Spud Webb won: height really isn't everything.
five
In the NBA the limit is six fouls; in FIBA games it is five.
💡 Did you know? A player who has fouled out may not return in that game.
3 seconds
The three-second rule stops tall players from parking permanently right under the basket.
💡 Did you know? The NBA also has a defensive three-second rule.
24 seconds
The shot clock arrived in 1954 because leading teams used to stall forever: it turned basketball into a fast game.
💡 Did you know? FIBA games also use a 24-second shot clock; US college basketball allows 30.
🔒 The other 8 questions are part of PurFact Pro.
Open in PurFactHome · All topics · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms · Contact
