NBA National Basketball Association Creation ● It was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and adopted the name of NBA in 1949 after merging with the National Basketball League (NBL). ● In 1967 the American Basketball Association (ABA) is created, threatening the NBA popularity. Both leagues fight through the years, trying to sign the best players in the country to increase their popularity. ● In 1976 occurs the merger between the ABA and NBA, resulting in a league with 22 franchises. Today ● The league has 30 franchises, divided in 2 conferences: Eastern and Western. ● The regular season occurs between October and April. Each team plays 82 games. ● In February occurs the All-Star Weekend, that is a celebration with the best players in the league and it has many events: ● All – Star Game; ● Three Point Contest; ● Rookie Challenge; ● The Dunk Contest; ● Skills Challenge. ● NBA 2010 All-Star Game: the largest attendance in history for any basketball game, with 108,713 spectators The Playoffs ● 8 better teams from each conference ● Best-of-seven series ● NBA finals: East Champion versus West Champion The Champions Notable Players ● Michael Jordan ● Bill Russell ● Wilt Chamberlain ● Magic Johnson Notable Players Today ● Kobe Bryant; ● LeBron James ● Carmelo Anthony ● Dirk Nowitzky ● Derrick Rose ● Kevin Durant ● Dwyane Wade ● Dwigth Howard Brazilians in the NBA ● Actually there are 5 brazilians in the NBA. ● Leandrinho ● Tiago Splitter ● Nenê ● Anderson Varejão ● … and Fab Melo, who is from Juiz de Fora! =D Thank You .