James Naismith, a physical education teacher, invented basketball in 1891. He was born in Almonte, Ontario, in Canada. Basketball began in Springfield, Massachusetts, at a YMCA training school.

The first basketball hoops, in 1891, were peach baskets, and the first games used a soccer ball. In the first games a player could not run with the ball, and had to throw it from the spot where it was caught. A person stood by each basket to get the ball back out after a goal. The game spread quickly from Springfield to other schools and YMCAs.

The league that became the NBA began in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America. It took the name NBA in 1949. The first game of the league was played on November 1, 1946, in Toronto. The New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies, 68-66.

Today a basket made from inside the three-point line counts two points. A basket made from outside the line counts three points, and a successful free throw counts one point. The NBA's three-point line is 23 feet, 9 inches from the middle of the basket, and 22 feet from the basket in the corners. The free throw line is 15 feet from the backboard.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in one NBA game on March 2, 1962. He made 36 of his 63 shots and 28 of his 32 free throws in that game.

Basketball became an Olympic sport for men at the 1936 Games in Berlin, Germany. James Naismith was invited to throw the first jump ball and to hand out the medals.

Senda Berenson, a teacher at Smith College, changed the rules for women and ran the first women's college basketball game. Women's basketball joined the Olympic program at the 1976 Games in Montreal.

The 1992 Olympic team of NBA stars, called the Dream Team, was the first U.S. Olympic team to include NBA players.

Words to know

• physical: of the body
• rules: how to play
• league: group of teams
• Olympic: world games