Tips & Tutorials

For any game, there are some codes of conduct.

These regulations ensure a fair competition between the teams, and every team is obliged to follow them.

However, if a team violates any rule, that team has to pay for it by rewarding penalty to the opponent. Bonus in basketball is a type of penalty.

In every game or a part of game, a certain team is allowed to commit a particular number of fouls.

Accidently, if that team exceeds that allocated number of fouls, their opponent team gets bonus. This bonus is been rewarded as means of free throw to the basket.

Though this is the common meaning of the term bonus, you may also find other meanings of the term when you visit different basketball leagues around the world.

Here we are going to cover three popular leagues’ perspective of bonus.

NBA Professional Basketball League:

NBA stands for National Basketball Association is a men’s professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams and follows their own set of rules.

In the NBA league, if a team commits more than 4 fouls per quarter of the game, the opponent gets the bonus. This bonus is given by two free throws.

For example, if a team has already committed 4 fouls in the quarter portion of a match, for each foul they commit after the 4th foul, opponent team gets the opportunity for two free throws.

This process of giving and getting penalty keep going after each foul. And the points the rewarded team gets from each penalty counted as bonus here.

FIBA International Basketball League:   

The International Basketball Federation is the organizer of international basket tournaments. FIBA includes international matches and most of the matches are held outside of USA.

According to the FIBA rules, if a certain team commits more than 4 fouls per quarter of a game, the rival will get rewarded free throw for the 5th foul and all other subsequent fouls after the 5th one.

In the match, the other team will be rewarded with a bonus for all the non-shooting fouls committed by a particular team. And, the bonus will be given in terms of 2 free throws to the opponent team’s basket.

NCAA College Basketball League:

College bonus rules are quite stricter than the NBA and FIBA. As you know an NBA game is divided by four parts and each part is called quarter, but a college match has only two halves.

In college league match, a team can commit 6 fouls per halves of a game without being charged by the bonus penalty.

After 6th foul, the team is been charged by the penalty. This penalty has two dimensions:

Firstly, for the 7th, 8th and 9^th foul, the opponent team gets one free throw.

If the rewarded team can score from that one chance, they will get the second chance. If they can’t score from the first throw, the referee resumes the game.

Secondly, if any foul after the 9th is committed, the rival team gets two consecutive free throws.

In this respect, it doesn’t matter whether the team scores or misses the first chance, they are allowed to take two throws at a time.

Two free throws at the same time is also known as double bonus.

Conclusion 

Bonus can be the curse for a team and be the main reason behind the defeat of a match.

Moreover, when a team’s foul becomes the reason of the bonus, the team spirit gets affected. So,if you are a basketball player, you should have a positive impact to your team avoiding any kind of foul.

The term field goal in basketball covers a wide range of shots, from a dunk to a three-point shot.

And this field goal is used as an important statistical factor in determining the best players in basketball.

The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former Los Angeles Lakers center, holds the record of most career field goals in the history of NBA league.

The legend scored a total of 15,387 goals in his entire career.

He also has the accolade of attempting most field goals with a gigantic number of 28,307 attempts!

However, if we simplify the term, it stands as ‘a field goal is any shot,except a free throw, that is attempted by a player’.

The Slam Dunk

A type of field goal is known as Slam Dunk.

This goal occurs when a player jumps near the basket with the ball possession throwing the ball down through the basket while airborne.

The secret behind naming this goal is the activities that involve scoring a slam goal, such as the player’s hands hitting, grabbing, then releasing the hoop.

Calculation of Field Goal Percentage

You can get a good idea about a basketball player’s performance observing his percentage of the field goal.

This percentage expression is calculated by taking the number of field goals made by the number attempts, then multiplying by 100.

For example, a player attempted 10 shots and scored 4 out of them. In this case, he will have a field goal percentage of 40 percent.

This statistic also crucial for the teams.It helps to evaluate a player for potential draft or trade.

However, if a player has field goal percentage anything above 50%, is considered a good field goal fraction in both NBA and NCAA basketball leagues.

How Many Points A Field Goal Caries

A field goal can be awarded as 2 or 3 points depending on your distance from the basket when you shoot the ball.

2 points are given if you basket the ball standing within the three-point line. And, 3 points are given if you take the same shot from outside of the three-point line.

Rules of Field Goals And 3 Point Goals 

As a team member, a player always wants to score a 3-pointer goal.

Indeed, it’s a great chance to maximize the point difference from the opponent.

What if you have been fouled while attempting a 3-pointer goal and you miss that shot?

In this case, you will be given up to three free-throw attempts. But, if you can score in spite of being fouled, you will get only one free throw which can be a way of earning 4 points for your team.

More excitingly, even you have the chance to score 5 points at once!

If you are attempting a 3-pointer and the foul that committed on you gets ruled as Flagrant 1 or Flagrant 2 foul,in this situation, you’ll be rewarded by 2 free throws which have a chance of a 5-point play.

Some Important Terms of Field Goal

• FGM stands for A Field Goal Made, which means a Field goal that goes into the basket.
• FGA stands for A Field Goal Attempt, which refers to any field goal shot.
• FGA/FGMA refers to a player’s field goal percentage.

Additionally, if a player is fouled by his opponent while he is shooting, and the shot does not go into the basket, the player is not charged with an FGA.

Inversely, in the same situation if the ball goes into the basket then the player is charged with an FGA, and credited with an FGM, also receives an additional free throw.

Summing Up

A field goal has no special impact on a team unless you make it as bonus pointer for your team.

After knowing the details about the field goal, if you want to improve your field goal skill, you should try to practice scoring behind the three-point line.

Furthermore, if you are a defensive player, you should concentrate on preventing opponent scoring any field goal against you.

In some point of the game, if the opponent somehow gets the chance of field goal, you should let him go for two or three points.

Because sometimes your tackle for saving two or three points can cause your team to concede up to five points.

Basketball is a popular way of entertainment as well as physical exercise.

Different groupsof people around the world play this game for different purposes.

But, whatever their purposes are,the gameshave to be finished within a specific timeframe.

Normally, friendly games, those are played for entertainment purposes with friends, hardly follow a specific time schedule.

But in a competitive tournament, there are some timeframes for each league. Every league decides this time structure depending on their rules and competitive nature of the tournament.

Whether you are a player, coach or basketball lover, understanding the rules regarding the length of a game is important.

It is a must for a coach and player. It can also help a fan to manage his time to watch the game in his busy schedule.

Major Basketball Leagues and Their Timeframes 

As I said, a friendly match hardly has a definite time schedule.There are a good number of leagues around the world who follow their own time formats.

Here we are going to discuss three different timeframes of three major leagues of basketball.

High School Basketball 

Basketball is one of the most commonly played sports in high schools.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, all high school basketball matches must last at least 32 minutes each.

This 32-minute game is also divided into four different parts called quarter. Each quarter of the match lasts for eight minutes.

In between the 1st and 2nd quarter and the 3rd and 4th quarter, coaches and players remain on the ground during an official timeout. And there is a 10-minute interval session after the first half of the game.

College Basketball

College level basketball games are different from high school basketball.College games have two halves instead of four quarters of a play.

Each half of the game lasts for 20 minutes. So, a complete match is 40 minutes long. In between the first and second half, there is a 15 minutes break for the players.

National Basketball Association 

NBA mainly organizes the game in the USA. In NBA games, a match consists of 4 quarters. But unlike a school level basketball game, here the quarters last for 12 minutes each.

So, the entire game is a combination of 4 parts, that sums up 48 in minutes. Like college basketball game, here players and coach get 15 minutes of rest in between the halves of the game.

Overtime 

Above described time was the initial time for a basketball match.

However, if a match doesn’t have its winner after the initial time, it turns to additional time. All levels of basketball games have this opportunity for the teams.

In high school basketball, this additional period is four minutes. In the NBA and the college basketball league, this overtime is five minutes long.

If at the end of overtime still the result is tied, then another overtime period is given to the teams. This process continues until one team wins at the end of an overtime period.

Final Length of a Basketball Game

After all, a basketball game takes slightly longer than its actual length even if there is no tie in the game.

Because a game irrespective of its level, includes some optional activities such as half-time, fouls, timeouts and ball out-of-bounds.

All those activities result in a lot of instructions anda few extra minutes. Overall, including all the formalities and rules, a typical game takes 2-2.5 hours to be finished.

3 Longest Game in The History of NBA Basketball

There are some games that went beyond any normal competition.

In NBA basketball history, there are such three games that have lasted at least five overtimes!

On November 9, 1989, Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle Super Sonics played one of the longest games in the history. It had 5 overtimes.

Another game also took 5 overtimes to get its winner on November 24, 1949. The match held between Syracuse Nationals and Anderson Packers.

Finally, the longest one was played by Indianapolis Olympians and Rochester Royals. That game required six overtimes to decide a winner. After playing all those 6 overtimes, Indianapolis Olympians won the fight scoring 75 points.

Last Words

Any game of any league can be extended if both teams have the equal aptitude.

So, if you want to go for enjoying a basketball match, you should plan for a 3-hour game. Otherwise, you may have to leave the match without knowing the final result of your favorite team.

It’s true that basketball is more than just a game.

It acts like an excellent aerobic exercise that helps you burn a significant number of your calories.

One may think that there are a lot of activities that also help us to burn calories, then why should I choose basketball?

Well, the best part of burning calories by playing basketball is it’s not only an exercise,but it’s also a way of entertainment.

Running, walking, cycling are three favorite exercises for reducing body fat, but at a certain time, they become boring and hard to continue.

On the other hand, I bet playing basketball is always exciting and enjoyable.

How Many Calories? Determining Factors

‘How many calories do you burn playing a basketball game’ totally differs from person to person, situation to situation.

Here we will discuss some factors those determine how much calories you will burn after a match.

Playing Time

This is pretty much obvious that the longer time you spent in the court the more calories you will burn.

So, if you want to burn more calories, you should spend more time playing not sitting or resting on the bench. It will be better if you play more than one match a day.

Nature of The Game 

You know basketball can be played in both half court and full court format.

A half-court match is played following 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3 formations. And a full court match is played following 4 vs 4 or 5 vs 5 formations.

So, if you play a full court game, you are bound to run more and thus lose more of your energy.

Intensity of The Game

The intensity or the competitive nature of the game will help you burn more calories even playing for less time.

Because a competitive game requires more attention and activeness of the players.

You will burn more calories in a competitive match like a match of any tournament, especially if the match is your team’s do or die match.

So, if you take basketball as your daily dose of exercise, you can play some competitive game rather than playing a friendly match.

Playing Role and Activities

Sometimes your role in the game creates a chance for you to be very active around the game. For example, a defensive player has to run less than an attacking player.

Moreover, every basketball game includes some activities like running with or without the ball, sprinting, jumping (rebounding, dunking), throwing the ball (assisting), shooting the ball to the basket, guarding fighting in the paint and throwing for the ball (hustle).

The more you do those activities the more you can contribute to your team success and also burn more calories.

Body Weight 

This is another good aspect of the basketball game.

If you weigh more, you will be able to lose more calories than a person who weighs less than you by playing in the same basketball match.

Actually, an overweight person needs to lose more.

This can be a motivation for an obese person too. As in the beginning, an obeseperson loses his weight rapidly and this rapidness helps him to stick to the exercise.

Once he falls in love with it, he will be able to continue it even if he loses less than before.

General Calculation of Calorie Burning

Here we are going to make a chart that displays the number of calories a person will lose if he has a certain weight.

Please keep in mind that the chart is made assuming the game is a mid-intensity game.

If you weigh 120 Pounds

5 Minutes – 26 Calories

10 Minutes – 52 Calories

20 Minutes – 104 Calories

30 Minutes – 156 Calories

60 Minutes – 312 Calories

If you weigh 150 Pounds

5 Minutes – 36 Calories

10 Minutes – 72 Calories

20 Minutes – 143 Calories

30 Minutes – 214 Calories

60 Minutes – 429 Calories

If you weigh 200 Pounds

5 Minutes – 52 Calories

10 Minutes – 104 Calories

20 Minutes – 208 Calories

30 Minutes – 312 Calories

60 Minutes – 624 Calories

If you weigh 250 Pounds

5 Minutes – 68 Calories

10 Minutes – 136 Calories

20 Minutes – 273 Calories

30 Minutes – 410 Calories

60 Minutes – 820 Calories

Final Words

If you really want to play basketball for burning your extra calories, you can make a game roster for yourself.

During your schedule preparation, keep the above-mentioned factors in your mind.

Finally, set your daily, monthly and yearly goal and start playing basketball.

The spinning has a wide range of meanings. In general, it is an acrobatic act that has been done by the experts in the circus.

Spinning can be done in many ways, such as with rings, basketball, football and other lightweight objects.

The interesting fact about spinning is, by whatever object the spinning is done, it looks very stratifying to the audience.

Basketball spinning is one of the easiest forms of spinning, so if you want to learn how to do it, you can attain the skill easily.

Learning to spin is just a combination of a few steps and their regular exercises.

We are going to discuss those steps and provided some tips below that a newbie should follow to learn and master the spinning effectively.

Learn How to Spin A Basketball

Learn to Throw the Ball

I think you know that spinning means keeping the ball rotating on the fingertip. So, the first step for you is to learn how to position the ball on your finger.

To learn the positioning, you can practice throwing the ball upward at your head’s height or slightly upper than your face.

To do this, keep your both hand on the two opposite sides of the ball, then flick your hand and thumb to spin the ball throwing upward.

When you put pressure to spin the ball, make sure to complete the two motions at the same time in order to create an equal force on both sides of the ball.

Learn Safe Landing

At this stage, the basketball is in the air and your task is to ensure a safe landing of the ball. You can use your middle finger or a combination of any two fingers to land the ball on it.

Some of the basketball spinners use their nails to land and spin the ball, but in the beginning, you should use your fingers’ head to land the ball.

Because this part of the finger is smooth and helps the ball to be balanced.

Land the basketball in a way that your fingers’ head or nail is in the center of the ball groves. This is the best position to get the best control on the ball.

Also, this area has a free room for finger placement.

Learn Keep the Ball Spinning

When you can land the thrown ball safely on your fingertip, you should try to keep the ball revolving as long as you can.

The difference between an expert spinner and an amateur spinner is the duration of rotating. As a learner, you should monitor your spinning time, and every time set a new goal with a few extra seconds than previous sessions.

After a few seconds of safe landing, the basketball starts losing its initial speed. At this moment, you can keep the ball going by slapping with your reserved hand.  Don’t slap the ball too hard for fast spinning, it may lose its balance.

Basketball​ Spinning Tips

Here we are going to list down some tips for a new basketball spinner.

These tips will help you do your spinning successfully and safely.

• If you want to learn to position the ball on the nail, you must trim the nail and maintain a standard size. If your nail goes longer than standard size, you may lose your balance at any point of spinning.
• While landing the ball, ensure a soft and smooth contact between the ball and your finger. Sometimes newbies become excited and try to land the ball as fast as possible making hard contact with the ball. This kind of hard contact may cause your finger injuries like blooding and broken nail.
• During your spinning, gradually low down your elbow from the landing position. When you do that, you will have better control on the ball and can spin it for a long time.
• Keep the palm side of your hand just opposite your face. In the first few days of learning, you may find it unusual, but this is the best way to spin the basketball.
• While practicing or learning, always maintain a safe distance between the ball and your face. Otherwise, you may be punched by your ball when you lose your balance.
• Select a free space for spinning and practicing. It is recommended, especially when you are taking the lessons.Where you practice also must have ample room for moving, sometimes for running with the ball.

Summing Up

If you are a basketball player, I think you already know that you can attain any trick by consistent practice. This is the power of consistent practice!

So, you can also get good control over a rotating ball by consistent practice and can lengthen your time overtime as well.

If you are familiar with basketball history, you probably know that basketball was introduced as a means of an exciting game.

And scoring is the most exciting moment of the game.

In basketball, every successful throw to the hoop counts as a point. The height of hoop is an important factor for scoring points.

In the beginning, Mr. Smith, the founder of basketball, established the hoop 10 feet high from the ground which is the initial height of a basketball hoop.

Later, to make basketball exciting and enjoyable for every age of people, the height has been customized. This customization happens mainly analyzing the players’ age group and ability.

How This Height Arrived and Survived  

The customization of hoop height happened years later of the establishment.

But from the beginning to before the customization, the height of every kind of basketball hoop was 10 feet.

When the very first basketball game was played, Mr. Smith determined the initial height, but later people opposed him.

After the initial determination, a lot of the complaints against the 10 feet height were made but all were unsuccessful.

Later, in 2008 the debate arises with a new dimension in NBA all-star slam dunk competitions.

There Dwight Howard, a 6 ft. 11 inch. Player, proposed to raise the hoop by two feet.

He did this because some comparatively short height players claimed that he gets some advantage. Also claimed that his height was the reason behind his incredible dunking ability.

However, also this time NBA didn’t pay any attention to it. And still the height remains 10 feet high from the court.

The Height of NBA League

It has been almost 125 years since the inception of game basketball happened.

But NBA still follows the same height rule that was fixed by Mr. James Smith.Which is 10 feet high from the surface.

During this long journey players, coaches and some experts suggested increasing the height by 1 foot or 2 feet. But NBA always remains solid to its decision.

The Height of Hoop for High and Middle School Players

The standard height of the high school hoop is also 10 feet.

From the beginning, the hoop height was the same for each group of age. Later the American Sports Education Program (ASEP) recommends different heights for different young age persons.

The ASEP schedules 4 different rim height that starts with 6 feet and ends with the universal 10 feet height. The heights are:

• 6 feet rim height for the age group of 5 to 7 year.
• 8 feet rim height for the age group of 8 to 10 year.
• 9 feet rim height for the age group of 11 years.
• 10 feet rim height for the age group of 12 years and older.

However, one may find the 10 feet height for 12 years’ boys will be difficult as all of the boys of this age may not be tall.

But the truth is it will be better for those boys who want to be a basketball player in the future. Because basketball is not just a game of best scoring players or a game of tall players, everyone has to play as a team.

And a team may have both tall and comparatively short players.

Getting used to standard height from a very young age they will be able to play good basketball for their teams.

Basketball Sizes 

Many young basketball players dream of playing like LeBron James, throwing alley-oops, dunking the basketball, scoring 3-pointers and winning the game on the eleventh hour.

To make all those dreams happen they need to practice with the right size of the ball.

Otherwise, in the beginning, they may feel demotivated when they are unable to control the ball properly.

Here are the basketball sizes for different age groups:

• size 7 ball for the 12 or older people.
• size 6 ball for the boys 9 to 12 and girls 9 or older.
• size 5 ball for the boys and girls 9 and under.

Summing Up

By conquering all the criticism of experts, coaches, players and even some fans the height of competitive basketball hoop is still unchanged. It’s a kind of tribute to the founder himself.

And the mesmerizing part is, around 125 years ago, Mr. Smith realized how much the rim height should be fair for the players with different heights.

Actually, Smith understood a team only with good height can’t win a match. At the end of the day, techniques and performance shout loud.

Fear of falling down on the court is a common matter of conscious for a basketball player.

What if you lose your balance while taking the basket shot with precision? We know it’s irritating.

If you are balanced on the court, you can do any dribbling and pass the ball just as you want. And if you are a defender, you can also restrict your opponent with your quick stable movements from scoring against you.

However, various basketball freaks follow various tricks to get grip on the court.

Here we are going to give you 5 effective gripping methods.

Follow the set oconquer your fear and move on the ground like a king with full of swag.

How to Get Good Grip on Basketball Shoes

Dampen Cloth 

You can use the dampened cloth in two ways.

One, if your team is the home team and hosting the match, your club authority can wipe all the court with a dampen brush just before the game.

It will be good for both home and away teams.

Two, you can do it for yourself only.

Store a dampen piece of cloth inside your bag, just before the starting of the match wipe the bottom of the shoes with it.

For better benefit, do the same two times, before the game and in the interval.

Grip Enhancer 

Sticky mats and grip lotions can offer another two ways of getting grip on the ground.

Some basketball courts have sticky mats outside the court, players can enhance the grip of their shoes walking for few seconds on the mats.

In addition, you can apply a small amount of lotion on your shoes.

Pour a small amount of lotion on a piece of cloth and wipe it around your shoe’s bottom.

Clean Regularly

Though basketball grounds are always arranged and clean, shoes are still affected by a considerable amount of dirt and dust.

And those dust reduce the traction.

So, after every game, you should clean your shoes.

If you only wear your shoes inside the court, it will take just 2 minutes.

Moisten Your Shoe Outsole

If you are middle of the game and realize that your shoes lost the grip, you can save yourself by moistening them.

To moisten, many people just lick their hand and wipe the outsole of their shoes.Personally, I discourage this.

As an alternative of licking and wiping, you can spittle on the court and rub the spittle using your shoes.

This process also revives the grip and is far better than licking.

Replacing Shoes

And the final way of getting grip is buying a new pair of shoes.

Sometimes you may not get proper grip even though you dampen or wipe with lotion, at that time, you need to replace your existing pair of shoes with a brand-new one.

Tips for Maintaining the Grip 

• Carry a piece of cotton cloth inside your bag.
• Carry an extra towel for cleaning.
• Reserved griping materials in your gaming kits.
• If possible, play and practice with a different pair of shoes.
• Try to use your game shoes as less as possible.
• Put on and put off the shoes only when you stay on the court.
• Don’t let any dirt or dust stay long.
• Buy shoes that have a good traction pad on the bottom sole.
• Buy the right pair of shoes that fits you perfectly.

Last Words

Hope you will find those gripping strategies very beneficial to your performance on the court.

Moreover, you will get the best result of these methods if you use your shoes only for the basketball game.

Wearing basketball shoes for going outside makes the bottom panel worn and sometimes it becomes totally unable to revive the grip.