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Information about National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the five major professional sports leagues in North America. The league is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine of them residing in the United States, and the lone Canadian team based in Toronto. The National Basketball Association is also the most recognized basketball league in the world. Top international players from Asia, Europe, and the Americas continue their careers in the NBA, making the league one of the most witnessed sports events around the world. Its wide global reach has helped propel basketball as the fastest growing sport in the world.
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The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946. Back then, it was called the Basketball Association of America. The league was one of the three competing professional basketball leagues in the United States before it merged with the rival National Basketball League. During the 50's, basketball was regarded as an indoor sport played during the cold winter months when people were taking a break from playing football or baseball. The league was organized by owners of ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern United States. During the early days, the quality of competition in the league was nothing to write home about. Teams like the Harlem Globetrotters, American Basketball League's Baltimore Bullets, and the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers were considered better teams than any team in the BAA.
The merger of the BAA and the NBL paved the way for the National Basketball Association. The new league started with seventeen teams located in large and small market cities. From seventeen teams, the league cut teams until just eight teams were left in 1954. Known as the great eight, these teams include the Knicks, Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Kings, Pistons, Hawks, and the 76ers. All these teams are still operating today.
The early years became the era of classic NBA. During this period, the National Basketball Association broke the color barrier, George Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five championships to establish the first NBA dynasty, and the 24-second shot clock was introduced to speed up the game. The 50's will also be remembered as the decade when two of the three greatest big men entered the league in the names of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Bill Russell went on to win nine NBA championships for the Boston Celtics, the most for any NBA player of all time, while Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points to set the record for the most points in the game. Both of these records still stand today.
The National Basketball Association shared the stage with a new league in the 1960's. The American Basketball Association (ABA) was the NBA's biggest rival with highly popular players like Rick Barry and Julius Erving playing in the ABA. The ABA introduced a different set of rules that made their brand of basketball more exciting for the fans such as the introduction of the three point line, slam dunk contest, and rainbow-colored balls. This led to the merger of the NBA and the ABA when four of the top franchises from the ABA joined the NBA. These franchises are the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and New York Nets, which moved to New Jersey. After the merger, the NBA became recognized as the top basketball league in North America and set the table for the golden era of the league with the rivalry of the Lakers and the Celtics.
The NBA added the new three point line from the ABA to open up the game for its players and give them more offensive options. In 1979, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird joined the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, respectively. These two players led their franchises to take a combined eight championships in the 1980's. The 80's Lakers and Celtics were considered two of the greatest teams of all time.
After the storied Lakers-Celtics rivalry, the league experienced a big growth in ticket sales on top of the sold out games in the major cities where an NBA team plays. The NBA then gave the greatest gift of basketball to the world when Michael Jordan entered the 1985 rookie draft. Michael Jordan became the most popular basketball player and one of the first global athletes during the 90's, as he won six NBA championships, six Finals MVP awards, and four NBA regular season MVP awards.
The current crop of NBA stars includes Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. In 2008, an all-NBA roster led the United States to their first Olympic gold medal after eight years. With the cream of superstars in the top basketball league, it will be a big mistake to skip on NBA tickets and watch the top players play for the NBA championship.
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