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Introduction Basketball is an athletic sport, usually played on an indoor court in which two competing teams of five players each attempt to score by throwing an inflated ball so that it descends through one of two baskets suspended, at each end of the court, abov ....

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.... to keep spectators from interfering with the game.) The baskets are attached firmly to the backboards about 3 m (about 10 ft) above the playing surface. Each basket is about 46 cm (about 18 in) in diameter and consists of a horizontal hoop, or metal ring, from which a fringe of wide-meshed white netting is hung. The regulation basketball is an inflated, leather- or nylon-covered sphere that weighs from 567 to 624 g (20 to 22 oz) and has a circumference of about 76 cm (about 30 in). History Basketball was invented in December 1891 by the Canadian clergyman, educator, and physician James Naismith. Naismith introduced the game when we wa ....