National Basketball Association (NBA) is the body that governs basketball in the United States and Canada. When the group of owners of the top professional basketball teams met in New York at the Hotel Commodore on June 6, 1946, they formed an association known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). Most of these primary members were the owners of the arenas in the major cities of the United States. In 1949, BAA merged with another league, the National Basketball League (NBL), to form the NBA.

The First NBA Game

The new league's first game was between the Toronto Huskies and the New York Knickerbockers. The game was played on November 1, 1946 at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, and was won 68-66 by the Knickerbockers in front of a crowd of 7,090 spectators. Considering that every young Canadian then played hockey, this was a very good attendance.

The basketball played then was very different from how it is played today. There was hardly any leaping and feats akin to ballet - as is common in the game today! That first game was from a very different era. Double pump and slam dunks were not a routine maneuver. In fact, the players could not, and did not, jump well. The teams had an unlimited time to shoot, as the 24 second clock had not yet been introduced. The belief, then, by many coaches was that when a player left both his feet off the ground for a shot, it spelled trouble, and so jump shots were hardly taken.

The BAA started with 11 teams when it formed in 1946, and today there are 30 teams playing in the NBA - 29 teams from the United States and one from Canada. NBA is currently divided into two conferences - the Western and the Eastern conferences, with each conference having three divisions. Each division has five teams in it. Currently, the Boston Celtics is the most successful team in NBA having won 16 NBA Championships. The Los Angeles Lakers come in second with 14 Championships under their belt.

The Origin Of Basketball

Basketball was invented, in 1891, by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He devised the game when looking for ways to keep his football players in shape during the off season months. By the following year in 1892, he put the rules of the game together, which had 13 rules. The first game of basketball was played in 1893, when he split his team of 18 players into two sides of nine players each.

From such humble beginnings has come the game which is played today by more than 300 million people globally!

The Tickets

NBA tickets are one of the most sought after sports tickets in the United States. Most young Americans, mostly going to school or attending colleges are ardent fans of the game, and look to purchase NBA tickets for the games their favorite teams are involved in.