Browse Lessons
Assign Lesson

Help Teaching subscribers can assign lessons to their students to review online!

Assign Lesson to Students

Share/Like This Page

Basketball Scoring

Basketball Scoring

Basketball is a fun and competitive game which can be enjoyed by everyone.

To win at basketball, your team is the one which scores the most points.  Your team scores points when a player on your team throws the basketball through the other team’s hoop (or basket) at the end of the court.  The court is the floor or pavement on which the game is played.  It includes the hoop and backboard, and the floor lines.  The floor lines tell the players where on the floor they can play.

Your team can also win by keeping the other team from throwing the basketball through your team’s hoop.  This is called defense.

When you throw the basketball towards the other team’s hoop, that is called a shot.  If it goes in, your team gets points.  How many points you get for a successful shot depends on where on the court you threw the ball from.  The more difficult the shot, the more points it is worth.

Usually, a ball thrown through the hoop is worth two points, unless you throw the ball from beyond something called the arc.  If it goes in, you get three points.

The arc is a line drawn on the playing floor which is kind of shaped like a half circle.  Look at the picture to see what the arc looks like.

Sometimes a player breaks a rule and makes a foul.  When this happens, a player on the other team gets to try a free throw.  This is a shot made from the foul line without someone from the other team trying to knock the shot down.  It’s the easiest shot to make in basketball, so that’s why it’s only worth one point if it goes in.

Games are usually played in four parts, or quarters.  The players take a longer break called halftime at the end of the second quarter.  Every game is timed, and when the clock winds down to zero at the end of the fourth quarter, the game is over.  The team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!

Related Worksheets:

Related Lessons: