Playing Basketball

Whether you're playing basketball on a high school team or in the NBA, the game’s main rules are still the same:

Score a basket: Basketball has one primary objective: shoot the ball through the hoop to score a field goal. Players on the offensive team score points by throwing a basketball into the opposing team's basketball hoop. The defensive team tries to prevent the offense from scoring by stealing the ball, blocking shots, deflecting passes, and collecting rebounds from missed shots. After a team scores a basket, the opposing team receives possession of the ball.

Five players per team: Basketball teams typically have 12 or more players on a single roster. In general, five players can play on the court at a time, while the other players sit on the bench awaiting their chance to be substituted into the game in place of any player on the court. Players can play one of five main positions in basketball: center, power forward, small forward, point guard, and shooting guard. Learn more about the different positions in basketball.

The court features different components: Basketball is played on a rectangular court with a 10-foot tall basketball hoop on both ends. Markings on a basketball court include a half-court line separating each side, a small circle in the center of the court where the game begins with a tip-off, a three-point arc on each side of the court, a free throw lane on each side of the court, and a free throw line (also called the foul line) at the top of the free-throw lane. The out-of-bounds lines along the court’s length are called sidelines, and the out-of-bounds lines along the shorter ends of the court are called baselines.

Every game starts with a tip-off: Every game begins with an opening tip-off (or jump ball) at center court. The tip-off is when the referee tosses the ball in the air between two opposing players, and the player who tips the ball to their teammates gains the first possession of the game.

Dribbling: Players move the ball around the court either by dribbling or passing. A legal dribble consists of continuously tapping the ball to the floor and back using only one hand at a time. The most common passes in basketball are the chest pass (a pass using two hands at chest level that travels directly into a teammate’s hands) and the bounce pass (a pass made by bouncing the ball once on the floor before a teammate catches it).

Possession: Once a player simultaneously touches the basketball with two hands (excluding when they initially gain control of the ball), the player can no longer dribble or move with the ball. The player's only remaining options are to pass or shoot the ball.

The shot clock dictates the offense: A shot clock displays a countdown dictating the amount of time remaining before the offense must attempt a shot (also called a field goal). The shot clock resets when a player either scores a basket or shoots a shot that touches the hoop’s rim. The shot clock counts down from 24 seconds in both the NBA and WNBA, 30 seconds in women's college basketball, and 35 seconds in men's college basketball. Outside the United States, international rules mandate a 24-second shot clock.

Games vary in length: In the National Basketball Association, each game is 48 minutes long, split between four 12-minute periods. There's a short rest break after the first and third periods and a longer rest break at half-time. If the score is tied at the end of regulation time, there will be an extra five-minute period to break the tie. (If the score remains tied, teams will play as many extra periods as necessary until there's a winner). Each team has a limited number of timeouts they can use to stop the clock throughout the game.