Basic Rules of Basketball

Please note that we are teaching you the basic rules of basketball.
The official basketball rules vary from league to league.

When preparing to start a basketball game, the ten basketball players on the court line up at mid court.  One player from each team stands on each side of the half court line.  The referee tosses the ball into the air and the game clock starts.  The two players jump and try to swat the ball to their teammates.  Whichever team gets the ball becomes the offensive team.  The other team is the defensive team.  The offensive team tries to move the ball toward their team's basket by either dribbling the ball (bouncing the ball) or passing the ball to a teammate.   The defensive team tries to guard the offensive team and prevent them from scoring a basket.  The defensive team is allowed to intercept passes, block shot attempts, or steal the ball from the offensive player.   The offensive player who has the ball is allowed to bounce the ball unlimited times until he picks up his dribble.  Then he has five seconds to shoot the ball or pass the ball.  If he doesn't a five second violation will be called by the referee and the other team will be awarded possession of the ball.

In youth basketall, middle school basketball, high school basketball, and the NBA (National Basketball Association) there are four quarters of play.  The time of each quarter differs from league to league.  In college basketball instead of four quarters there are two halves.

By now you should be grasping the basic rules of basketball.  Hopefully these basktball rules will start to make sense as you learn about more rules.  Let's continue.

The court is the area of play.  If someone steps off the court even a tiny fraction they are called "out of bounds" and the other team is awarded the ball.  This is called a "turnover".  After a made basket, the defensive team becomes the offensive team and takes the ball out of bounds.  They have five seconds to inbounds the ball before they will be whistled for a 5 second violation.  Once inbounded, the offensive team has 10 seconds to cross midcout with the ball.  Once they cross midcourt the ball cannot touch down behind midcourt or they will be called for an "over and back" violation.  Once the ball is in bounds the offensive team has a set amount of time on the "shot clock" to take a shot.  This time varies from league to league.  Once a shot is taken it must go in or at least hit the rim within the time on the shot clock or a "shot clock violation"  will be called. If the ball does hit the rim the shot clock will restart.

A team is allowed to take an unlimited number of shots.  If they are fouled while shooting they are awarded two free throws for two point shot attempts, three free throws for 3 pointer attempts, and if they are fouled and their shot goes in they are awarded those points plus an additional free throw.

When an offensive player is shooting a free throw the other players are allowed to stand outside the painted area of the court known as the lane.  They line up in alternating slots with the defensive players closest to the basket.  No players are allowed to step into the lane until the free throw is at the level of the rim.

Hopefully by now you are learning basketball rules.  Try to imagine these rules of basketball in your mind and picture players doing the things you are reading.

We will cover more basketball rules in detail on the remaining pages.  We will cover basketball rules for charging, blocking, goaltending, palming, double dribbling, and many other basic rules of basketball, so please read the other pages of this basketball rules website for more information.