Guest Writer and American Sports enthusiast Sam Martin gave Amelia Harper his insight into basketball.
Basketball may well have originated in the USA, but it is now a truly global sport, the third most popular sport worldwide.
Players
It’s a team sport with five positions. Traditionally the two smallest players on the team take up the guard positions and assume the ball-handling duty, dribbling the ball up the court and passing to open players.
There are also two forwards on the team, who tend to be bigger and more athletic, capable of acrobatic slam dunks, powerful drives and three-point shots.
Lastly is the centre, the biggest player on the team. All NBA teams will have a centre on their team that is over 7ft tall and the main role of this player is to effectively bully the opposition defence and shoot close range shots.
The sport is high energy and fast-paced with four, twelve-minute quarters making up the match.
Leagues and how to watch
Professional basketball leagues exist across the World but the dominant league is the NBA, the National Basketball Association based in the USA. 30 teams battle it out over 82 regular season games and then a series of playoffs to be crowned the NBA Champion for that year.
The season is long and arduous with games 3-4 times per week. At this very moment the dominant team is the Golden State Warriors with their incredible roster of talent including Steph Curry and Kevin Durant.
Then there is “The King” himself, LeBron James, who moved to LA this summer to join the LA Lakers. James is perhaps the best player in league history and is looking for a new challenge after winning titles in Cleveland and Miami over the last ten years.
Over in Milwaukee a young group of players are launching their own championship bid led by Giannis Antentenkoumpo, the Greek Freak.
The NBA also hosts a yearly game in London at the O2 arena, all part of their plans to expand the game worldwide. Indeed, there has been a significant increase in the number of international players in the league over the last decade with young stars like Antentenkoumpo, Ben Simmons and Luka Doncic all originating from outside the USA.
You can watch NBA games every day on Sky Sports if you are willing to stay up late for them or you can purchase the NBA League Pass, a yearly subscription that allows you to watch all the games from your favourite team.
Basketball in the UK
Basketball is also growing in popularity in the UK as a social sport. There is a prevalence of courts around the city, and numerous clubs that play in social leagues.
It’s one of the most physically demanding sports to play but is also a fantastic mix of skilled passing, running and athleticism, making it a fantastic team sport.
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