Where did basketball start?
Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith. He set out to invent a game to occupy students between the football and baseball seasons.
The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a
soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned
by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket
were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation
of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball
from the basket each time a goal was scored.
Some facts about the greatest ever basketballer, Michael Jordan:
1. Jordan was only the third pick in the 1984 draft, behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie.
2. All-time greats Charles Barkley (5) and John Stockton (16) were in the same draft.
3. He is called his "Airness" in homage to the hang-time attained during his slam-dunks.
4. In his youth, he could slam-dunk from the free-throw line.
5. He was rookie of the year in 1985.
6. Jordan has selected for 14 All-Star games, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabar.
7. He has the only All-Star game triple-double - 14 points, 11 boards and 11 assists in 1997.
8. He has been voted MVP of the All-star game three times (1988, 1996 and 1998).
9. He is also a five-times regular-season MVP (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998).
10. MJ is third in all-time NBA scoring behind Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabar.
11. Only MJ and Wilt Chamberlain average 30-plus points for their-regular season careers.
12. But Jordan has by far the highest play-off scoring average - at 33.4.
13. On 20 April 1986, Jordan set an NBA play-off record with 63 points in a 135-131 double overtime loss to the Boston Celtics.
14. After that game NBA legend Larry Bird famously said: "That was God disguised as Michael Jordan."
15. Jordan has led the league in scoring 10 times, more than anyone else.
16. He started wearing the number 23 shirt at high school because his brother had his first-choice number 45.
17. But he did eventually pull on the 45 jersey for 22 games during his first NBA comeback.
18. Ex-convict Daniel Green was convicted of murdering MJ's father, James R Jordan in 1993.
19. Jordan once listed Laker legend Jerry West as the person he would most like to play one-on-one basketball against.
20. He has an estimated personal fortune of US$400m (£280m).
Some facts about the greatest ever basketballer, Michael Jordan: