Basic Rules of Play

Games begin with a jump ball: the referee tosses the ball up at center circle and one player from each team tries to tap it to a teammate. After that, play flows continuously — made baskets are inbounded from the baseline by the team that got scored on, and the game only stops for whistles, out-of-bounds, and timeouts.

When the ball goes out of bounds, the team that did not touch it last throws it in from the sideline or baseline. The inbounder has 5 seconds to pass it in.

Three rules govern the dribble:

1. You must dribble to move with the ball — walking or running while holding it is traveling.

2. Once you stop dribbling and hold the ball, you cannot start dribbling again — that's a double dribble.

3. Your hand must stay on top of the ball — letting it rest under your palm mid-dribble is a carry.

Break any of these and the other team gets the ball. We'll drill the details in the Violations topic.

The ball is live when play is running and dead after any whistle or made basket. This matters because most rules only apply to a live ball, and the clock usually stops when the ball is dead (always, in the final minutes of most leagues).

One more essential concept: possession. Only one team has the ball at a time, and everything in basketball strategy flows from what you do with your possessions — a theme you'll meet again in the Analytics topic at the top of this course.