The Basics

The first thing you need to know is there are 12 players on a team and five from each team playing at a time. The main positions are center, guard, and forward. The center is the usually the big man that mainly rebounds on defense and posts up on offense. There are two guards the shooting guard and the point guard. The shooting guard is one of the best shooters on the team and usually covers the best perimeter player on defense. The point guard runs the offense and most of the time has the fastest dribbles. There are also two forwards the small forward and the power forward. The small forward scores most of his driving in or off of cuts. The power forward is second biggest man and most of the has his back toward the hope. A field goal is worth to two points and a three is obviously worth three points. A free throw is worth one point. In a NBA game there are four quarters twelve minutes each. Each team has three timeouts each half.