Basketball Quiz

Question: In basketball, what is it called when the referee puts the ball into play by tossing it up between two opponents who try to tap it to a teammate?

Answer: The jump ball is a method of putting the ball into play in basketball. The referee tosses the ball up between two opponents who try to tap it to a teammate.

Question: Which of these basketball players retired from the NBA with the highest career scoring average?

Answer: Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest all-around basketball player in the history of the game. He led the Chicago Bulls to six championships (1991–93, 1996–98). When he retired for the final time in 2003, he ended his career with 32,292 total points and a 30.12-points-per-game average, which was the best in NBA history at that time.

Question: Who invented basketball?

Answer: In December 1891 Ontario-born James Naismith invented the game of basketball at the International Young Men''s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Question: Which basketball player is credited with the introduction of the one-handed shot?

Answer: Hank Luisetti introduced the one-handed shot. When Luisetti unveiled his shot in Madison Square Garden in 1936, it revolutionized basketball, replacing the static game of two-handed set shots with more scoring and action. He was also innovative in his dribbling and behind-the-back passing.

Question: Who is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game?

Answer: Wilt Chamberlain was one of the greatest offensive players in the history of basketball. He is the only player in NBA history to have scored 100 points in a single game (March 2, 1962).

Question: At the games of the first professional basketball league in the United States, what was originally used to separate players from hostile fans?

Answer: The National Basketball League (NBL), formed in 1898, was the sport’s first professional league. An NBL game differed from the college game in that a chicken-wire cage typically surrounded the court, separating players from often hostile fans. (Basketball players were long referred to as cagers.) The chicken wire was soon replaced with a rope netting, off which the players bounced like prizefighters in a boxing ring. The cage also kept the ball from going out of bounds, thus quickening the pace of play.

Question: What was the nickname given to basketball coach John R. Wooden, who guided UCLA’s men’s team to 10 national championships between 1964 and 1975?

Answer: Known as the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden led basketball teams at the University of California at Los Angeles to 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association championships in 12 seasons (1964–65, 1967–73, 1975).

Question: Following a controversial finish, which country captured the 1972 Olympic gold medal in basketball, snapping the United States’ unbeaten streak in Olympic competition?

Answer: The Soviet Union captured the gold medal in basketball at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, snapping the United States’ unbeaten streak in Olympic competition. The gold medal game between the two teams ended in one of the most disputed results in Olympic history.

Question: Who was Dr. J?

Answer: Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J, was one of the most colourful and exciting figures in basketball during the 1970s and ’80s.

Question: In basketball, what term refers to throwing, batting, or rolling the ball to another player?

Answer: In basketball, passing entails throwing, batting, or rolling the ball to another player.