Basketball Equipment and Olympic Basketball Tickets

The only essential equipment in a basketball game is the basketball and the court: a flat, rectangular surface with baskets at opposite ends. Competitive levels require the use of more equipment such as clocks, score sheets, scoreboard(s), alternating possession arrows, and whistle-operated stop-clock systems.

A regulation basketball court in international games is 91.9 feet long and 49.2 feet wide. In the NBA and NCAA the court is 94 feet by 50 feet. Most courts have wood flooring, usually constructed from maple planks running in the same direction as the longer court dimension. The name and logo of the home team is usually painted on or around the center circle.

The basket is a steel rim 18 inches diameter with an attached net affixed to a backboard that measures 6 feet by 3.5 feet and one basket is at each end of the court. The white outlined box on the backboard is 18 inches high and 2 feet wide. At almost all levels of competition, the top of the rim is exactly 10 feet above the court and 4 feet inside the baseline. While variation is possible in the dimensions of the court and backboard, it is considered important for the basket to be of the correct height a rim that is off by just a few inches can have an adverse effect on shooting.

The size of the basketball is also regulated. For men, the official ball is 29.5 inches in circumference (size 7, or a "295 ball") and weighs 22 oz. If women are playing, the official basketball size is 28.5 inches in circumference (size 6, or a "285 ball") with a weight of 20 oz.

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"Basketball Rules and Regulations" and Olympic Basketball Tickets

Measurements and time limits discussed in this section often vary among tournaments and organizations; international and NBA rules are used in this section.

The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents' basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points or three points if it is taken from beyond the three-point arc which is 6.25 meters from the basket in international games and 23 feet 9 inches in NBA games. A one-point shot can be earned when shooting from the foul line after a foul is made.

Games are played in four quarters of 10 FIBA or 12 minutes NBA. College games use two 20 minute halves, while high school varsity games use 8 minute quarters. 15 minutes are allowed for a half time break under FIBA, NBA, and NCAA rules and 10 minutes in high school. Overtime periods are five minutes in length except for high school which is four minutes in length. Teams exchange baskets for the second half. The time allowed is actual playing time; the clock is stopped while the play is not active. Therefore, games generally take much longer to complete than the allotted game time, typically about two hours.

Five players from each team may be on the court at one time. Substitutions are unlimited but can only be done when play is stopped. Teams also have a coach, who oversees the development and strategies of the team, and other team personnel such as assistant coaches, managers, statisticians, doctors and trainers.

For both men's and women's teams, a standard uniform consists of a pair of shorts and a jersey with a clearly visible number, unique within the team, printed on both the front and back. Players wear high top sneakers that provide extra ankle support. Typically, team names, players' names and, outside of North America, sponsors are printed on the uniforms. A limited number of time outs and clock stoppages requested by a coach or sometimes mandated in the NBA for a short meeting with the players are allowed. They generally last no longer than one minute 100 seconds in the NBA unless, for televised games, a commercial break is needed.

The game is controlled by the officials consisting of the referee referred to as crew chief in the NBA, one or two umpires referred to as referees in the NBA and the table officials. For college, the NBA, and many high schools, there are a total of three referees on the court. The table officials are responsible for keeping track of each team scoring, timekeeping and individual and team fouls, player substitutions, team possession arrow, and the shot clock.  Watch Basketball in London Olympics 2012. Purchase Olympic Basketball Tickets and enjoy champions at court. You can buy your Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market. Global Ticket Market sells all sorts of Olympic Tickets at lesser rates.  You can buy any of Olympic Tickets including Olympic Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market at very cheap rates.

Basketball Fouls and Olympic Basketball Tickets

An attempt to unfairly disadvantage an opponent through physical contact is illegal and is called a foul. These are most commonly committed by defensive players; however, they can be committed by offensive players as well. Players who are fouled either receive the ball to pass inbounds again, or receive one or more free throws if they are fouled in the act of shooting, depending on whether the shot was successful. One point is awarded for making a free throw, which is attempted from a line 15 feet from the basket.

The referee may use discretion in calling fouls for example, by considering whether an unfair advantage was gained, sometimes making fouls controversial calls or no calls. The calling of fouls can vary between games, leagues and even among referees.

A player or coach, who shows poor sportsmanship, such as by arguing with a referee or by fighting with another player, can be charged with a more serious foul called a technical foul. The penalty involves free throws where, unlike a personal foul, the other team can choose any player to shoot and varies among leagues. Repeated incidents can result in disqualification. Blatant fouls with excessive contact or that are not an attempt to play the ball are called intentional fouls or flagrant fouls in the NBA. In FIBA, a foul resulting in ejection is called a disqualifying foul, while in leagues other than the NBA, such a foul is referred to as flagrant.

If a team exceeds a certain limit of team fouls in a given period four for NBA and international games the opposing team is awarded one or two free throws on all subsequent non shooting fouls for that period, the number depending on the league. In the US College and high school games, if a team reaches 7 fouls in a half, the opposing team is awarded one free throw, along with a second shot if the first is made. This is called shooting "one and one". If a team exceeds 10 fouls in the half, the opposing team is awarded two free throws on all subsequent fouls for the half.

When a team shoots foul shots, the opponents may not interfere with the shooter, nor may they try to regain possession until the last or potentially last free throw is in the air.

After a team has committed a specified number of fouls, it is said to be "in the penalty". On scoreboards, this is usually signified with an indicator light reading "Bonus" or "Penalty" with an illuminated directional arrow indicating that team is to receive free throws when fouled by the opposing team. Some scoreboards also indicate the number of fouls committed. If a team misses the first shot of a two shot situation, the opposing team must wait for the completion of the second shot before attempting to reclaim possession of the ball and continuing play. If a player is fouled while attempting a shot and the shot is unsuccessful, the player is awarded a number of free throws equal to the value of the attempted shot. A player fouled while attempting a regular two point shot, then, receives two shots. A player fouled while attempting a three point shot, on the other hand, receives three shots.

If a player is fouled while attempting a shot and the shot is successful, typically the player will be awarded one additional free throw for one point. In combination with a regular shot, this is called a "three point play" or "four point play" or more colloquially, an "and one" because of the basket made at the time of the foul 2 or 3 points and the additional free throw. Purchase Olympic Basketball Tickets and enjoy champions at court. You can buy your Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market. Global Ticket Market sells all sorts of Olympic Tickets at lesser rates.  You can buy any of Olympic Tickets including Olympic Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market at very cheap rates.

Basketball Dribbling and Olympic Basketball Tickets

In basketball, dribbling is the legal method of advancing the ball by oneself, as opposed to passing it to another player or shooting for the basket. It consists of bouncing the ball on the floor continuously with one hand while walking or running down the court.

James Naismith's original rules said nothing about dribbling; merely stating that passing the ball was the legal way of advancing it. Players soon developed the strategy of "passing to themselves", which Naismith himself both endorsed and admired for its ingenuity, and which evolved into the dribble as it is known today. The dribble allows for much faster advancement and thus more opportunities for scoring. It also provides an opportunity for a crafty player on the opposing team to "steal" the ball in mid-bounce. Once a player stops dribbling the ball and holds it, the player normally must either pass it to another player or take a shot; if the player dribbles and then holds the ball in any way either grasping it with his hands or arms, or "palming" it, i.e. holding it too much toward its underside during the act of dribbling then continues to dribble, then the referee stops the play, signals either "double dribble" or "carrying", and turns the ball over to the other team. A "double dribble" may also be called if the player tries to dribble with both hands at the same time.

Dribbling should be done with finger pads and the fingers should be relaxed and spread, the wrist should be pushing the basketball, and the forearm should be moving up and down. Skilled ball handlers bounce the ball low to the ground, reducing the risk of a defender reaching in to steal the ball. Adept dribblers can dribble behind their backs, between their legs and change the speed of the dribble, making the player difficult to defend, and opening up options to pass, shoot or drive with the ball.

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The Basketball Arena and Olympic Basketball Tickets

The Basketball Arena for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom will be located in the Olympic Park in Poplar, London

London's Olympic bid proposed that there would be four arenas in the Olympic Park, but the revised master plan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the volleyball matches being moved to Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The fencing arena was also cancelled, and the fencing will now take place at ExCeL.

The Basketball Arena will have 12,000 seats for Olympic basketball and the semi finals and finals of the Olympic handball, and 10,000 for Paralympics wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. The arena will also be used as a holding area for athletes during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the games. Concept designs were agreed in June 2008 and a planning application is due to be submitted in November 2008. It will be a temporary venue, and the largest built for any Games, and it is hoped that it will be reassembled elsewhere in the UK after the games. In early October 2008 it was speculated that Wembley Arena could be used as a replacement venue for the preliminary rounds of the 2012 Olympic basketball tournament instead of the Basketball Arena, thus saving up to £90 million but in March 2009 it was confirmed that a new arena will be built in Stratford as originally proposed.

In late October 2009 it was announced that preparatory work had begun on the site and Glasgow based Barr Construction would begin building the main arena in spring 2010. The basketball arena took 15 months to build and was completed in June 2011. Watch Basketball in London Olympics 2012. Purchase Olympic Basketball Tickets and enjoy champions at court. You can buy your Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market. Global Ticket Market sells all sorts of Olympic Tickets at lesser rates.  You can buy any of Olympic Tickets including Olympic Basketball Tickets from Global Ticket Market at very cheap rates.