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Tema: Tema yang saya ambil adalah basketball

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Positions and structures

Although the rules do not specify any positions whatsoever, they have evolved as part of basketball. During the first five decades of basketball's evolution, one guard, two forwards, and two centers or two guards, two forwards, and one center were used. Since the 1980s, more specific positions have evolved, namely:

1. point guard: usually the fastest player on the team, organizes the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time
2. shooting guard: creates a high volume of shots on offense; guards the opponent's best perimeter player on defense
3. small forward: often primarily responsible for scoring points via cuts to the basket and dribble penetration; on defense seeks rebounds and steals, but sometimes plays more actively
4. power forward: plays offensively often with their back to the basket; on defense, plays under the basket (in a zone defense) or against the opposing power forward (in man-to-man defense)
5. center: uses height and size to score (on offense), to protect the basket closely (on defense), or to rebound.

The above descriptions are flexible. On some occasions, teams will choose to use a three guard offense, replacing one of the forwards or the center with a third guard. The most commonly interchanged positions are point guard and shooting guard, especially if both players have good leadership and ball handling skills.

The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.

There are two main defensive strategies: zone defense and man-to-man defense. Zone defense involves players in defensive positions guarding whichever opponent is in their zone. In man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent and tries to prevent them from taking action.

Defense has also evolved with offense. "Zone defense" has changed with many variations. There are defensive schemes called "2–3 zone", "3–2 zone", "box-and-1", "2–1–2 zone" and many more. All of these variations were created to defend different varieties that offense has. "Man-to-man defense" has been the most preferred of all the options because many basketball games are not as organized as the entertainment part of basketball.

Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a cut. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a screen or pick. The two plays are combined in the pick and roll, in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.

Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.

International stars in the NBA

Worldwide, basketball tournaments are held for boys and girls of all age levels. The global popularity of the sport is reflected in the nationalities represented in the NBA. Players from all over the globe can be found in NBA teams:

• Chicago Bulls star forward Luol Deng is a Sudanese refugee who settled in Great Britain, and plays for the British national team alongside Toronto Raptors centre Pops Mensah-Bonsu.
• Steve Nash, who won the 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP award, is a South African born Canadian.
• Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors, top pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, is from Italy. In addition, American superstar Kobe Bryant spent much of his childhood in Italy while his father was playing there.
• Dallas Mavericks superstar and 2007 NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki is German.
• All-Star Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers is from Spain.
• 2005 NBA Draft top overall pick Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks is Australian. Also, 2008–09 rookie Nathan Jawai is the first Indigenous Australian ever to play in the league, and the following season saw another Indigenous Australian, Patrick Mills, enter the league.
• Houston Rockets All-star center Yao Ming is from China.
• All star and former three point champion Peja Stojakovic is Serbian.
• All star Andrei Kirilenko is Russian.
• Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao and Denver Nuggets center Nenê are Brazilian.
• Cleveland Cavaliers big man Žydrūnas Ilgauskas is Lithuanian.
• Perhaps no NBA team is as identified by international players as the San Antonio Spurs. The team's three most prominent players are all international—Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Manu Ginobili of Argentina and Tony Parker of France (Duncan competes for the United States internationally, as the Virgin Islands did not field a basketball team for international competition until well after Duncan started playing internationally, and all U.S. Virgin Islands natives are United States citizens by birth).
• Ginobili's countryman Andrés Nocioni plays for the Sacramento Kings.
• The Kings also feature the first Israeli to play in the NBA, Omri Casspi.
• Jonas Jerebko of the Detroit Pistons is the first NBA player from Sweden

Even in the '90s, many non-American players made their names in the NBA, such as Croats Dražen Petrović and Toni Kukoč, Serb Vlade Divac, Lithuanians Arvydas Sabonis and Šarūnas Marčiulionis and German Detlef Schrempf.

John Hollinger of ESPN has analysed foreign players' performance in the NBA and his research suggests that players moving from the Euroleague to the NBA experience, on average, a 25 per cent drop in scoring rate, an increase of 18% in their rebound rate, a 31% increase in their assist rate, a drop of 12 per cent in shooting percentage and a 30 per cent drop in Player Efficiency Rating.^[24]

The first rules, court, and game

In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith,^[2] a Canadian-born physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School^[3] (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was removed^[4], allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time. The peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were finally replaced by metal hoops with backboards. A further change was soon made, so the ball merely passed through, paving the way for the game we know today. A soccer ball was used to shoot baskets. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game.^[5] The baskets were originally nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators on the balcony began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference; it had the additional effect of allowing rebound shots.^[6]

Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called "Duck on a Rock", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball".^[7]

The first official game was played in a YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players. The game ended at 1–0; the shot was made from 25 feet (7.6 m), on a court just half the size of a present-day Streetball or National Basketball Association (NBA) court. By 1897–1898 teams of five became standard.

FINAL NBA 2010

Final NBA 2010 : Lakers Menang Telak – Bermain di hadapan pendukung sendiri, juara bertahan mengawali rangkaian final NBA 2010 dengan kemenangan telak setelah mengalahkan Boston Celtics 102-89 di Staples Center Arena, Jumat WIB. Pemain bintang Kobe Bryant tampil dominan dengan menyumbang 30 angka untuk Lakers, disusul pemain asal Spanyol, Pau Gasol yang mencetak 23 angka. Pada pertandingan final yang direncanakan berlangsung dengan sistem tujuh terbaik (best of seven) itu, Lakers bertekad untuk meraih gelar dua kali secara beruntun atau gelar ke-16 sepanjang sejarah NBA.

Lakers yang pada final 2008 lalu tidak bisa berbuat banyak menghadapi Boston, tidak mau mengulangi kesalahan yang sama dan kali tampil dengan pertahanan sangat ketat. Akibatnya, para pemain Boston Celtics hanya mampu melakukan 43,3 persen dari seluruh usaha lemparan. Pertemuan kedua kembali akan berlangsung di Staples Center Arena pada Senin mendatang.

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop under organized rules. A regulation basketball hoop is comprised of a rim 18 inches in diameter (45.72 cm) and 10 feet high (3.048 m) as well as a backboard. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.^[1]

Points are scored by throwing (shooting) the ball through the basket from above. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the scores of both teams are the same. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. It is a violation to walk with the ball or carry it. Disruptive physical contact (foul) is penalized, and free throws will be issued if an offensive player is fouled while shooting the ball. (violations).

Through time, basketball has developed to involve many common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players' positions, and offensive and defensive structures. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play center or one of two forward positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed, play the guard positions. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Basketball is also a popular spectator sport in countries around the world.

While competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played on a basketball court, less regulated variations played in the outdoors have become increasingly popular among both inner city and rural groups.