2. History of Basketball
-Basketball was invented by James
Naismith, a Canadian professor from
McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
-He invented this sport so his athletes
had a way to stay active during the
winter.
-The first official game was played in the
YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1082.
-The first game was played with 9
players and the final score was 1-0
3. The National Basketball
Association
-The NBA is the most popular
basketball league around the world
-It was founded in New York City on
June 6, 1946.
-The first game played was the Toronto
Huskies vs. The New York
Knickerbockers
-There were 17 teams when the
league first started, but today there is
30 teams.
4. International Basketball
-Basketball has now become
popular around the world
-Tournaments such as The Olympics
and the FIBA World Championship
have become very important to
countries.
-Basketball is no longer an American
sport.
5. Power Houses
Team USA is no longer the best team in the
world.
The Soviet Union was the dominant team in the
USA until they broke up. For a while after that,
Team USA has been the best in the world by far.
Recently, countries have picked up their level of
play and are now competing with the USA.
Countries such as Spain, Argentina, and Greece
are now playing at the same level as the
Americans
6. World Champions
Year Event Gold Silver Bronze
2008 Olympics USA Spain Argentina
2006 FIBA Spain Greece USA
2004 Olympics Argentina Italy USA
2002 FIBA Yugoslavia Argentina Germany
2000 Olympics USA France Lithuania
7. International Players in the
NBA
-Today, there are more and more
international players in the NBA.
-At first, teams were hesitant to bring
international players onto their
teams because the style of play
around the world is different than in
the NBA.
-Now the international style of play
has influenced the style of the NBA.