Basketball

Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka and starring basketball player Michael Jordan. The film presents a fictionalized account of what happened between Jordan's initial retirement from the NBA in 1993 and his 1995 comeback, in which he is enlisted by the Looney Tunes to help them win a basketball match against a group of aliens who intend to enslave them as attractions for their theme park. Wayne Knight, Theresa Randle, and Bill Murray appear in supporting roles, while Billy West, Dee Bradley Baker, and Danny DeVito headline the voice cast.

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately 9.4 inches (24 cm) in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter mounted 10 feet (3.048 m) high to a backboard at each end of the court, while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.

James Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, sports coach, and innovator. The same year he left Canada for Springfield, Massachusetts, he invented the game of basketball. He wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939).

Gary Parrish is an award-winning sports columnist at CBSSports.com and the host of "The Gary Parrish Show with Geoff Calkins" on 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis. Parrish first gained national prominence for uncovering one of the biggest scandals in NCAA history -- that University of Alabama booster Logan Young paid Trezevant High School football coach Lynn Lang $200,000 to steer All-American prospect Albert Means to the Crimson Tide football team. Parrish now mostly writes about college basketball. His radio show is the top-rated sports talk show in Memphis. It was voted the best sports talk show in Memphis in 2010 by readers of the Memphis Flyer.

Air Jordan is an American brand of basketball shoes, athletic, casual, and style clothing produced by Nike. Founded in Chicago, Air Jordan was created for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls. The original Air Jordan sneakers were produced exclusively for Michael Jordan in late 1984, and released to the public on April 1, 1985. The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore.

Edon Molla;( born March 8, 1994) is an Albanian American basketball player who currently plays for St. Francis College of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He plays shooting guard and point guard. He has been invited to play for the Albania national basketball team. He played high school basketball for legendary coach Bob Hurley at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Kenny Ray Carter (born February 13, 1959) is an American business owner, education activist and former high school basketball coach. Carter attended college at San Francisco State, then Contra Costa College, and finally George Fox University, where he played basketball. He was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the 2005 film Coach Carter.

A slam dunk, also simply dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by putting the ball directly through the basket with one or both hands above the rim. It is considered a type of field goal; if successful, it is worth two points. Such a shot was known as a "dunk shot" until the term "slam dunk" was coined by former Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn.

In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. In professional or organized basketball, especially when played indoors, it is usually made out of a wood, often maple, and highly polished and completed with a 10 foot rim. Outdoor surfaces are generally made from standard paving materials such as concrete or asphalt.

The five basketball positions normally employed by organized basketball teams are the point guard (PG), the shooting guard (SG), the small forward (SF), the power forward (PF), and the center (C).