The Court, Zones, and Key Rules

## Court dimensions A standard NBA court is 28.7m x 15.2m. The court is divided into a backcourt and frontcourt by the half-court line. Key zones include: - **The paint (key)** — the rectangular area under each basket; offensive players can only remain here for 3 seconds - **The three-point arc** — 7.24m from the basket in the NBA; 6.75m in FIBA competitions - **The mid-range** — the area between the paint and the three-point line; increasingly deprioritised in modern analytics ## Key rules that shape strategy - **Five-second inbound rule** — teams must inbound the ball within 5 seconds - **Eight-second backcourt violation** — once a team crosses half-court, they cannot return to the backcourt - **Goaltending** — defenders cannot block a shot on its downward arc or interfere with the ball above the cylinder of the rim ## Fouls and free throws Personal fouls accumulate. Once a team reaches a certain foul total in a quarter (the bonus), every subsequent foul sends the opposing player to the free-throw line regardless of whether a shot was attempted. This dramatically alters late-game strategy.