About NBA Basketball, NBA All-Star Game, NBA Greatest Players

NBA (National Basketball Association), professional American basketball league, consists now of 29 US teams, and 1 Canadian team. The league was founded in 1946 as Basketball Association of America, and in 1949 the league adopted its current name. The league is divided into two conferences, each containing 3 divisions. Eastern Conference includes Atlantic, Central, and Southeast divisions. Western Conference is comprised of Pacific, Northwest, and Southwest divisions. There are 5 teams in a division. During NBA regular season, which starts in November, each team has 82 games. Sixteen best teams of regular season enter NBA Playoffs which starts in the end of April. In June NBA conducts final playoff games, which are called NBA Finals. The winner team receives Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.

NBA All-Star Game

NBA All-Star Game is conducted in February. Participators are selected in two stages. At first, fans in US and Canada, and in the Internet vote for their favorites. The results determine pretenders. Then coaches choose 14 players from the pretenders to form All-Star teams of Western, and Eastern Conferences. All-Star break includes also several attractions: Rookie game, the Skills, the Three Point Contest, and NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

NBA Championship Leaders (up to 2007)

Boston Celtics - 16
Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers - 14
Chicago Bulls - 6
San Antonio Spurs - 4
Philadelphia/Golden State Warriors - 3
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers - 3
Detroit Pistons - 3
New York Knicks - 2
Houston Rockets - 2
Baltimore Bullets - 1
Rochester Royals/Sacramento Kings - 1
St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks - 1
Milwaukee Bucks - 1
Portland Trail Blazers - 1
Washington Bullets/Wizards - 1
Seattle SuperSonics - 1
Miami Heat - 1

The 50 Greatest Players In Nba History (Announced by NBA in 1996)

  1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  2. Nate Archibald
  3. Paul Arizin
  4. Charles Barkley
  5. Rick Barry
  6. Elgin Baylor
  7. Dave Bing
  8. Larry Bird
  9. Wilt Chamberlain
  10. Bob Cousy
  11. Dave Cowens
  12. Billy Cunningham
  13. Dave DeBusschere
  14. Clyde Drexler
  15. Julius Erving
  16. Patrick Ewing
  17. Walt Frazier
  1. George Gervin

  2. Hal Greer
  3. John Havlicek
  4. Elvin Hayes
  5. Magic Johnson
  6. Sam Jones
  7. Michael Jordan
  8. Jerry Lucas
  9. Karl Malone
  10. Moses Malone
  11. Pete Maravich
  12. Kevin McHale
  13. George Mikan
  14. Earl Monroe
  15. Hakeem Olajuwon
  16. Shaquille O'Neal
  17. Robert Parish
  1. Bob Pettit
  2. Scottie Pippen
  3. Willis Reed
  4. Oscar Robertson
  5. David Robinson
  6. Bill Russell
  7. Dolph Schayes
  8. Bill Sharman
  9. John Stockton
  10. Isiah Thomas
  11. Nate Thurmond
  12. Wes Unseld
  13. Bill Walton
  14. Jerry West
  15. Lenny Wilkens
  16. James Worthy