NBA
The National Basketball Association probably won’t ring a bell right away, but maybe the abbreviation NBA rings a few more? The NBA is the American professional basketball league where the absolute top plays; 30 different teams from America and Canada compete here.
Divisions
Because America is such a big country, the NBA decided to split it into 6 different divisions so that teams do not have to travel far for every game. The 6 divisions each consist of 5 teams that are based as close to each other as possible.
Western Conference
The Western Conference is the umbrella name for the 3 divisions in the west. For example, there is the Pacific Division with teams like Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings. Many will say it is one of the best divisions because of the Los Angeles rivalry between the Clippers and the Lakers. In addition, the Northwest Division is also part of the Western Conference, with teams like: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz. Finally, there is the Southwest Division where the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs play.
Eastern Conference
For example, there is the Atlantic Division with teams like Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors. In general, these teams will play each other more often than the rest of the NBA teams. Besides the Atlantic, there is also the Central Division with teams like Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks and finally we have the South Eastern Division where Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards are based.
NBA FACTS
Below, we have picked 5 lesser-known NBA facts that you probably did not know yet.
1. When CBS took over NBA coverage from 1973, they did not know until the week before the season started who would call the games. The choice turned out to be an American football announcer named Pat Summerall.
2. Only twice in the 74-year history of the NBA have games been played on Christmas Eve: in 1960 and 1967. Both games were broadcast nationally, the first with the Celtics and Hawks and the second with the Warriors and Sonics.
3. On 19 March 1969, a coin flip took place to decide which team would pick first in the NBA Draft. The Phoenix Suns chose heads, but the coin landed on tails, which meant that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, would start his career with the Milwaukee Bucks.
4. During the 1961-62 season, Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring was off the charts, with an average of 50.4 points over 80 games. His average minutes per game, however, were actually more than the 48 minutes teams play. The reason for this oddity was that his team, the then Philadelphia Warriors, played nine overtimes in total.
5. Kobe Bryant was not a top-10 draft pick, talk about a tragedy. Kobe Bryant was seen as a kid who had just finished high school and was therefore only picked 13th. To give you an idea of how badly some teams blew it by not picking him, here are the players who were picked before Kobe: Lorenzen Wright, Kerry Kittles, Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier, Todd Fuller and Vitaly Potapenko. No doubt some GMs had some explaining to do.
