131 Fun Facts About NBA

Which NBA team has won the most championships in league history?

The Boston Celtics' 18th title in 2024 broke a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers at 17; the two have met in the Finals a dozen times.

Which team came back from 3–1 down to win the 2016 NBA Finals in seven games?

It was the first 3–1 comeback in Finals history, and it came against a Golden State team that had just set the regular-season record with 73 wins.

What city do the Bucks call home?

The Milwaukee Bucks have been based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin since their founding in 1968.

Which player is nicknamed The Black Mamba?

Bryant took the name from the codename of Uma Thurman's character in the Kill Bill films, wanting his game to strike like the snake: fast, accurate and in rapid succession.

How many players from each team are on the court during an NBA game?

Each NBA team has 5 players on the court at a time, for a total of 10 players during active play.

Which player holds the record for most points scored in a single NBA game?

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points on March 2, 1962, playing for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks.

Who was the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft?

LeBron James was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft, straight out of high school.

What team did Michael Jordan play for when he won his first NBA championship?

Michael Jordan won his first NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1991, beginning a run of three consecutive titles.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson formed the Splash Brothers for which NBA team?

Curry and Thompson shared a Golden State backcourt from 2011 to 2024, raining threes the whole time.

What is the award presented each year to the winner of the NBA Finals called?

A new trophy was created for the 1977 Finals, the first after the ABA–NBA merger, and it was renamed in 1984 for Larry O'Brien, the commissioner who had served from 1975 to 1984.

Which player won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 2019?

Dončić arrived in Dallas already a EuroLeague champion and MVP with Real Madrid, one of very few Rookie of the Year winners trained entirely outside the United States.

Where do the Toronto Raptors play their home games?

The Toronto Raptors play at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. It was renamed from Air Canada Centre in 2018.

Which NBA player is known for his signature skyhook shot?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar perfected the skyhook, widely considered one of the most unstoppable shots in basketball history.

What team drafted Shaquille O'Neal first overall in 1992?

Shaquille O'Neal was drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic in 1992 before later moving to the Lakers where he won three championships.

Which NBA team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008?

The Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and were renamed the Thunder.

Who holds the NBA record for most career assists?

John Stockton holds the NBA record for career assists with 15,806, a record that has stood since his retirement in 2003.

Which team did Allen Iverson lead to the 2001 NBA Finals?

Allen Iverson, the 2001 MVP, carried the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals, where they took Game 1 in overtime before losing to the Lakers in five.

What is the standard height of an NBA basketball hoop?

The regulation height of an NBA basketball hoop is 10 feet (3.05 meters) from the playing surface to the top of the rim.

Which NBA franchise has Tim Duncan spent his entire career with?

Tim Duncan played his entire 19-year career (1997-2016) with the San Antonio Spurs, winning five NBA championships.

How many points is a made free throw worth in the NBA?

A free throw is worth 1 point. It is an unguarded shot from the 15-foot line, awarded after shooting fouls and certain other fouls.

Who was the first NBA player to be unanimously named MVP?

Curry's 2015–16 award was the first unanimous MVP in NBA history, and he paired it with a scoring title while shooting above 50–40–90 for the season.

Which NBA team plays at Madison Square Garden?

The New York Knicks have played at Madison Square Garden since 1968, making it one of the most iconic venues in professional basketball.

How many games are in a standard NBA regular season for each team?

Each NBA team plays 82 regular season games: 41 at home and 41 on the road.

Which player won six NBA Finals MVP awards, all with the Chicago Bulls?

Michael Jordan won all six of his NBA Finals MVP awards with the Chicago Bulls across two three-peats (1991-93, 1996-98).

What draft position was Giannis Antetokounmpo selected at in 2013?

Giannis Antetokounmpo was drafted 15th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013, a pick that proved to be one of the greatest steals in draft history.

Which NBA coach is the all-time leader in regular season wins?

Gregg Popovich surpassed Don Nelson in 2022 to become the winningest coach in NBA regular season history while coaching the San Antonio Spurs.

Which team won the first NBA championship held under the NBA name in 1950?

The Minneapolis Lakers, led by George Mikan, won the first NBA championship in 1950 after the BAA and NBL merged to form the NBA.

Under the NBA's 2019 lottery reform, how many non-playoff teams enter the draft lottery?

Only the top four picks are actually drawn by lottery; the rest of the 14 lottery teams then pick in reverse order of record.

Which Lakers guard's silhouette inspired the NBA logo?

Jerry West: designer Alan Siegel based the 1969 logo on a photo of the Lakers guard dribbling, which is why West was nicknamed 'The Logo'.

Dirk Nowitzki spent his whole 21-year career with which team, leading it to its first NBA title in 2011?

The Dallas Mavericks beat LeBron's Miami Heat in six games in 2011, the only title of Nowitzki's 21 seasons, all of them spent in Dallas.

What position did Magic Johnson primarily play for the Los Angeles Lakers?

Magic Johnson revolutionized the point guard position at 6 foot 9, bringing size and court vision that had never been seen at the position before.

Which arena has been the Brooklyn Nets' home since 2012?

The Nets opened Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2012 after leaving New Jersey, where they had last played at Newark's Prudential Center.

Who was known as The Dream and led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995?

The 1994 title, won against Patrick Ewing's Knicks, was the first in Rockets history and avenged Olajuwon's college championship loss to Ewing a decade earlier.

How many teams played in the NBA during the 2025-26 season?

The NBA had 30 teams in 2025-26, divided into two conferences (Eastern and Western) with three divisions each.

Which country is Nikola Jokic from?

Nikola Jokić is from Serbia, born in Sombor, the town that named his one-footed fadeaway, the 'Sombor Shuffle'.

What is a triple-double in basketball?

Points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks are the five categories; only four quadruple-doubles have ever been officially recorded in the NBA.

Which Hall of Fame center was nicknamed 'The Admiral'?

David Robinson earned 'The Admiral' at the U.S. Naval Academy before joining the Spurs in 1989; he was 1995 MVP and won titles in 1999 and 2003.

Which team did Dominique Wilkins star for from 1982 to 1994?

Dominique Wilkins, 'The Human Highlight Film', spent 1982 to 1994 with the Atlanta Hawks, winning the 1986 scoring title and the 1985 and 1990 dunk contests.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Warriors won the 2015 championship?

Andre Iguodala won 2015 Finals MVP after moving into the starting lineup in Game 4 to guard LeBron James, the first winner who had not started every game of the series.

What is the shot clock duration in the NBA?

The NBA uses a 24-second shot clock, which was introduced in 1954 to speed up the pace of play and increase scoring.

Which player holds the record for most consecutive games played in the NBA?

Green's 1,192-game streak passed Randy Smith's old mark of 906 in 1997, and it survived an intentional elbow to the face from J. R. Reid that cost him teeth but not a game.

Which shot-blocking center's signature finger wag after blocks was banned by the NBA in 1999?

Dikembe Mutombo's finger wag drew an automatic technical from 1999 onward. He won Defensive Player of the Year four times, a total later matched by Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert.

At which college did Michael Jordan win the 1982 NCAA championship?

Michael Jordan played at North Carolina from 1981 to 1984; as a freshman he hit the winning jumper against Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA final.

Who is the youngest player ever to win NBA Finals MVP, taking the award as a 20-year-old rookie in 1980?

Johnson famously started at center in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the clinching Game 6, and won the award again in 1982 while still only 22.

Which country is Luka Doncic from?

Luka Dončić is from Slovenia, born in Ljubljana. He starred for Real Madrid before the Atlanta Hawks took him third in 2018 and traded him to Dallas on draft night.

What NBA event features players competing in slam dunk, three-point, and skills challenges?

NBA All-Star Weekend is an annual mid-season event featuring the All-Star Game and competitions including the Slam Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, and Skills Challenge.

Which team did Kevin Garnett play his first 12 NBA seasons for?

Kevin Garnett went fifth to the Minnesota Timberwolves straight from high school in 1995 and played 12 seasons there, winning the 2004 MVP, before the 2007 trade to Boston.

How many quarters are in a standard NBA game?

An NBA game consists of 4 quarters, each lasting 12 minutes, for a total of 48 minutes of regulation play.

Which player has the most NBA championship rings as a player?

Bill Russell won 11 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics between 1957 and 1969, the most by any player in league history.

What jersey number did Michael Jordan wear for most of his career?

Michael Jordan wore 23 for nearly all of his Bulls career, switching only briefly to 45 after his 1995 comeback from baseball.

The 1961–62 scoring leader played 3,882 of his team's 3,890 minutes, averaging how many per game?

Wilt Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes in 1961–62, 3,882 over 80 games; overtime pushed him past a full 48-minute game, and he never fouled out in his 14-year career.

Who set the NBA single-game record with 30 assists for Orlando against Denver on December 30, 1990?

Scott Skiles handed out 30 assists in a 155–116 rout of Denver at Orlando Arena, breaking Kevin Porter's mark of 29 set in 1978.

How many consecutive free throws did Micheal Williams make across 1993 to set the NBA record?

Micheal Williams made 97 straight free throws for Minnesota, a run spanning 19 games from March to November 1993 that straddled two seasons.

Who recorded the NBA's first official quadruple-double, in his Chicago Bulls debut on October 18, 1974?

Nate Thurmond went for 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks against Atlanta in his Bulls debut; blocks had only become an official stat the previous season.

Which team ended the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers' record 33-game winning streak on January 9, 1972?

The Milwaukee Bucks, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, beat the Lakers 120–104 to end the streak; Los Angeles went on to finish 69–13, a wins record that stood for 24 seasons.

Which Celtic scored 50 points in a four-overtime 1953 playoff game, sinking a record 30 of 32 free throws?

Bob Cousy played 66 minutes on an injured leg and scored 9 of Boston's 12 points in the fourth overtime against Syracuse; a year later he founded the players' union.

Who is the only NBA player to retire with more career blocked shots than points scored?

Manute Bol retired with 2,086 blocks against 1,599 points; the 7-foot-7 Sudanese center's 3.3 blocks per game trail only Mark Eaton's 3.5.

In which country was Gheorghe Mureșan, 1995–96 Most Improved Player and star of My Giant, born?

Gheorghe Mureșan was born in Romania. He earned the award by leading the league in field-goal percentage at 58.4 while averaging 14.5 points and 2.3 blocks for Washington.

Whose 61 points in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals set the single-game Finals record?

Elgin Baylor scored 61 at Boston Garden on 14 April 1962. Seventeen months earlier he had set the regular-season mark with 71 against the Knicks, a Lakers record until Kobe Bryant's 81.

The Celtics played which team in the triple-overtime Game 5 of the 1976 Finals?

The Phoenix Suns lost the triple-overtime Game 5 at Boston Garden 128–126; Boston closed the series in six in Phoenix, and Jo Jo White was Finals MVP.

Who coached the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 NBA championship?

Larry Brown coached Detroit past the heavily favored Lakers in five games in 2004, becoming the only coach to win both an NCAA title (Kansas, 1988) and an NBA title.

Which Warrior scored 37 points in the third quarter against Sacramento in January 2015?

Klay Thompson went 13 of 13, including nine threes, for 37 points in the third quarter on 23 January 2015, breaking the single-quarter record of 33.

Whom did Russell Westbrook pass in May 2021 with his 182nd triple-double, an NBA record?

Oscar Robertson's 181 triple-doubles had stood as the record since his 1974 retirement; Westbrook passed him with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 21 assists in a one-point loss at Atlanta.

Owner Danny Biasone, credited with the shot clock the NBA adopted in 1954, ran which franchise?

Biasone owned the Syracuse Nationals, the franchise that became the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963; Syracuse won the 1955 championship in the very first season the clock was used.

What was the final score of the lowest-scoring NBA game ever, Fort Wayne over Minneapolis in 1950?

Fort Wayne won 19–18 on 22 November 1950 with a 3–1 fourth quarter; stall-ball games like this one pushed the league toward a shot clock four years later.

Which of these was one of the four ABA franchises absorbed by the NBA in the 1976 merger?

The Indiana Pacers joined with the Nuggets, Nets and Spurs in 1976; the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels were paid off instead, the Spirits' owners taking a share of the four teams' TV money.

Spencer Haywood's antitrust suit that opened the NBA to underclassmen was launched with the owner of which team?

A district-court injunction upheld by Supreme Court Justice Douglas let him play, and the league then carved out its hardship exception.

Who was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, in 1956?

The Hawks forward won it again in 1959 and remains the only regular-season MVP in that franchise's history.

Which Hall of Famer was known for shooting his free throws underhand?

Rick Barry's granny-style shot made him one of the most accurate foul shooters of his era, about 90 percent for his career, and his son Canyon later adopted it too.

Which team won the first NBA Cup (then called the In-Season Tournament) in December 2023?

The semifinals and final were staged at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and LeBron James was named tournament MVP.

Where was the 2020 NBA 'bubble' set up to finish the pandemic-interrupted season?

The bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando hosted 22 teams, cost the NBA about $190 million, and produced no positive tests from the restart through the Finals.

Which eighth-seeded team did the Denver Nuggets beat in 2023 for the first championship in franchise history?

The Miami Heat were only the second No. 8 seed ever to reach the Finals, after the 1999 Knicks, and lost in five as Denver claimed its first title after 47 seasons.

Nikola Jokić's 2014 draft selection was overshadowed on ESPN by a commercial for which brand?

Jokić went 41st overall in the second round; ESPN was airing a Taco Bell Quesarito commercial while his name scrolled across the ticker below it.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Boston Celtics won their record 18th title in 2024?

Jaylen Brown, already the East finals MVP, took the award after Boston went 64-18 in the regular season and 16-3 in the playoffs, beating Dallas in five games.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player from which country to win NBA Finals MVP, in 2025?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, from Hamilton, Ontario, became Canada's first Finals MVP; that season he also won league MVP and the scoring title, only the fourth player to sweep all three.

Which Pacers star tore his Achilles tendon in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals?

Tyrese Haliburton went down early in the first quarter; Indiana, which had set a postseason record with five 15-point comebacks that spring, led 48-47 at halftime even without him.

Which team did Carmelo Anthony begin his NBA career with in 2003?

Carmelo Anthony went third to the Denver Nuggets in 2003, one pick before Chris Bosh, and spent seven and a half seasons there before the 2011 trade to New York.

With what lottery odds did the team that drafted Cooper Flagg first overall in 2025 land the top pick?

The Dallas Mavericks jumped from the 11th slot, a 1.8 percent chance at No. 1, after winning a coin toss with the Chicago Bulls just to be placed higher in the odds.

At which college did Larry Bird play before joining the Celtics?

Larry Bird led Indiana State to an unbeaten regular season and the 1979 NCAA final, where the Sycamores lost to Magic Johnson's Michigan State.

How many times did Kawhi Leonard's 2019 Game 7 buzzer-beater against the 76ers bounce on the rim before dropping?

The normally stoic Leonard let out a scream, and Toronto went on to become the first champion based outside the United States.

Which Lithuanian center did Portland draft in 1986 but first play for in 1995?

Arvydas Sabonis was drafted 24th by Portland in 1986, but Soviet rules and injuries kept him in Europe until 1995, when he debuted at 30 and made the All-Rookie first team.

The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, announced in 2021, ended up naming how many players?

A tie in the voting pushed the list to 76 players, and Derrick Rose was the only former league MVP left off.

Luka Dončić was traded from Dallas to a Los Angeles team in the middle of which season?

The trade to the Lakers came in February 2025, midway through the 2024-25 season; the season before, he had led the league in scoring and taken Dallas to the Finals.

How long is an NBA overtime period?

Each NBA overtime period lasts 5 minutes, and extra periods continue until one team leads at the buzzer; Indianapolis beat Rochester in six overtimes in 1951.

Which NBA team plays its home games in Portland, Oregon?

The Trail Blazers have represented Portland since entering the NBA in 1970 and won the 1977 championship with Bill Walton.

How long is an NBA court from baseline to baseline?

An NBA court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide; the college court is the same length, while FIBA courts are 28 metres, about 92 feet.

Which Hall of Fame power forward was nicknamed 'The Mailman'?

He delivered for 18 seasons in Salt Lake City, retiring second on the all-time scoring list, but never won a title, losing to the Bulls in the 1997 and 1998 Finals.

How much is a basket worth when made from behind the arc?

A basket from behind the arc counts 3 points; the NBA line sits 23 feet 9 inches from the basket at the top of the arc and 22 feet in the corners.

Which city do the Golden State Warriors call home?

The Warriors moved into San Francisco's Chase Center in 2019 after decades across the bay in Oakland; the 'Golden State' name dates to 1971 and was meant to represent all of California.

Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a single game against which team?

On January 22, 2006, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest single-game scoring performance in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100.

Which number did Kobe Bryant wear before switching to No. 24 in 2006?

Kobe Bryant wore No. 8 from 1996 to 2006 and No. 24 for his final ten seasons; the Lakers retired both numbers in 2017.

Stephen Curry played his college basketball at which school?

At Davidson, Curry was twice Southern Conference Player of the Year and led the 10th-seeded Wildcats to the 2008 Elite Eight before going seventh in the 2009 draft.

What does "NBA" stand for?

National Basketball Association: the name arrived in 1949 when the Basketball Association of America absorbed the National Basketball League, though the league counts the BAA's first season as its founding year.

Who coached the Golden State Warriors to four championships between 2015 and 2022?

Steve Kerr, hired in 2014, won titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022; he had already won five rings as a player with the Bulls and Spurs.

Which Hall of Famer was nicknamed 'The Round Mound of Rebound'?

Charles Barkley earned 'The Round Mound of Rebound' at Auburn, where he led the SEC in rebounding three straight seasons despite standing about 6-foot-5.

In which decade was the NBA three-point line first introduced?

The line arrived in the 1970s, adopted for the 1979-80 season on a one-year trial borrowed from the ABA; Chris Ford of the Celtics is credited with the first one on October 12, 1979.

Which team did James Harden win the 2018 NBA MVP with?

James Harden won the 2017-18 MVP with the Houston Rockets, averaging 30.4 points as the team went a franchise-best 65-17.

Which coach has won the most NBA championships as a head coach?

Phil Jackson won six titles with the Bulls and five with the Lakers, passing Red Auerbach's nine when the Lakers beat Orlando in 2009; he also won two as a Knicks player.

Which guard was nicknamed 'The Answer'?

Allen Iverson, 'The Answer', was the 2001 MVP and led the league in scoring four times despite standing six feet tall.

In which year did LeBron James pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer?

On 7 February 2023 LeBron broke the 38,387-point record with a fadeaway jumper against Oklahoma City in Los Angeles, in his 20th season.

What is "traveling" in basketball?

Traveling is taking too many steps without dribbling: the NBA and FIBA allow two steps after a player gathers the ball, and a third without a dribble hands possession to the other team.

Which team drafted Kobe Bryant in the 1996 NBA Draft?

The Charlotte Hornets took Bryant 13th and sent him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac in a deal agreed before the draft; it nearly collapsed when Divac threatened to retire rather than report to Charlotte.

Who won the 2014 NBA MVP award with the Oklahoma City Thunder?

Kevin Durant won the 2013-14 MVP after averaging 32 points for his fourth scoring title, and gave the 'You the real MVP' speech to his mother.

The NBA All-Star Game is typically held during which month?

The All-Star Game is played in February, around the season's midpoint; the first one was played in Boston in 1951.

Who won back-to-back NBA MVP awards in 2019 and 2020?

Giannis Antetokounmpo, the 'Greek Freak', won MVP in 2019 and 2020, added Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, and led Milwaukee to its first title in 50 years in 2021.

Michael Jordan's 'Flu Game' in the 1997 Finals was played against which team?

Visibly ill, Jordan scored 38 against the Utah Jazz in Game 5 in Salt Lake City, including the go-ahead three with 25 seconds left, and collapsed into Scottie Pippen's arms afterward.

Dirk Nowitzki, who spent his entire 21-year career with one Texas franchise, was born in which country?

Dirk Nowitzki was born in Würzburg, Germany; he was Finals MVP of the Mavericks' 2011 title run and, in 2007, the first European to win league MVP.

How much time was left when Ray Allen hit his game-tying corner three in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals?

With 5.2 seconds left and Miami down three, Chris Bosh's offensive rebound found Allen backpedalling to the corner; the Heat won in overtime and took Game 7 two nights later.

Which team did Jason Kidd lead to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003?

Jason Kidd arrived in 2001 and took the New Jersey Nets to the 2002 and 2003 Finals, losing to the Lakers and then the Spurs.

Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets centre, represented which country in international play?

Yao Ming played for China at three Olympics; the 7-foot-6 centre came from the Shanghai Sharks as the first overall pick in 2002 and entered the Hall of Fame in 2016.

Who coached the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 NBA championship?

Rick Carlisle coached Dallas past the Heat in six games in 2011 and, back with Indiana, took the Pacers to the 2025 Finals.

In what year was the NBA founded?

Hockey-arena owners founded the Basketball Association of America on 6 June 1946 to fill empty dates; the NBA name came with the 1949 merger with the National Basketball League.

Which Spurs guard was nicknamed 'The Iceman'?

George Gervin, 'The Iceman', won four scoring titles with the Spurs between 1978 and 1982 and was famous for his finger roll.

Who coached the 'Big Three' of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the 2008 NBA title?

Doc Rivers coached the trio Boston assembled in the 2007 off-season by trading for Garnett and Allen; the title was the franchise's 17th and its first in 22 years.

Which Croatian forward won three titles as the Bulls' sixth man in the second three-peat?

Kukoč won Sixth Man of the Year in 1996 and is one of only two players to be named EuroLeague Final Four MVP three times.

Which center did Portland take second overall in 1984, one pick before Michael Jordan?

Portland, set at guard with Clyde Drexler, took Kentucky center Sam Bowie second; injuries limited him to 139 games in five Blazers seasons while Jordan went third to Chicago.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Celtics beat the Lakers in 2008?

Paul Pierce averaged 21.8 points in the six-game win over the Lakers and took Finals MVP in his tenth season, all of them in Boston.

How many rebounds did Wilt Chamberlain grab in his record-setting single game in 1960?

Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 55 rebounds, with 34 points, against Bill Russell's Celtics on 24 November 1960 in a 132-129 Philadelphia loss.

The Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s were known by what intimidating nickname?

The Bad Boys, led by Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman, bruised their way to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 before the Bulls finally got past them in 1991.

Tim Duncan, 'The Big Fundamental', played all four of his college seasons at which university?

Duncan stayed at Wake Forest all four years, won the Wooden Award as a senior in 1997, then went first overall and won Rookie of the Year and five titles with one franchise.

Which NBA team has played in Sacramento since 1985?

The Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985; the franchise began as the Rochester Royals and won its only NBA title in 1951.

On which personal foul is an NBA player disqualified from the game?

The sixth foul ends an NBA night because the limit scales with game length: six in a 48-minute game, but five in the 40-minute games under FIBA and college rules.

Which team won the first BAA championship in 1947?

The Philadelphia Warriors, led by scoring champion Joe Fulks, beat the Chicago Stags four games to one in the 1947 BAA Finals, the season the NBA counts as its first.

Who is credited with inventing the sport of basketball?

James Naismith nailed two peach baskets to a gym balcony at the YMCA training school in Springfield to keep his students busy through a New England winter.

Which NBA team has played its home games in Memphis since 2001?

The Grizzlies moved to Memphis from Vancouver in 2001 and built the 'Grit and Grind' identity around Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.

Which two NBA expansion teams joined the league for the 1988-89 season?

Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat became franchises 24 and 25 in 1988; Orlando and Minnesota followed a year later to take the NBA to 27 teams.

Who won the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest with a between-the-legs dunk off a bounce pass?

Vince Carter won the 2000 contest in Oakland with a reverse 360 windmill, a between-the-legs dunk off a bounce from Tracy McGrady, and an elbow-in-the-rim hang.

Which NBA foul, defined as 'unnecessary and excessive contact', brings immediate ejection?

A Flagrant 2 is basketball's red card: immediate ejection plus an automatic fine, while a Flagrant 1 only gets a player thrown out if he commits a second one in the same game.

Which basketball position is usually filled by the tallest player on the floor?

The center is usually the tallest player, stationed near the basket to rebound and protect the rim; Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal were classic examples.

Which Hall of Fame guard was nicknamed 'The Glove' for his defense?

Gary Payton, 'The Glove', made nine straight All-Defensive first teams and won 1996 Defensive Player of the Year with Seattle before winning a title with Miami in 2006.

In which city were the first NBA regular-season games in Europe played in 2011?

The New Jersey Nets faced the Toronto Raptors twice at London's O2 Arena in March 2011, in front of more than 18,000 fans each night.