ＮＢＡ篮球运动员的殿堂
ＮＢＡ篮球运动员的宫殿NBA Palace for Basketball Players
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the major professional basketball league in the world, with teams from the United States and Canada. With the addition of the Toronto Raptors and the ancouver Grizzlies prior to the 1995～ 1996 season, the NBA expanded to 29 teams competing in two conferences, the Eastern and Western, in four separate divisions. Each team conducts a training camp in October to determine its 12- player roster. Training camp allows each team to evaluate players, especially rookies (first-year players), to assess the team's strengths and weaknesses, and to prepare players for the upcoming season through a series of on-court drills and practice of offensive and defensive strategy. After a series of exhibition games, the NBA begins its 82-game regular season in the first week of November.
In the second week of February, the NBA interrupts its season to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star game, featuring the game's best players as selected by the general balloting of fans throughout the United States and Canada. After the NBA season concludes in the third week in April, a total of 16 teams qualify for the playoffs11(8 teams from each conference). In each conference the two division winners are guaranteed a playoff spot. The remaining playoff spots in each conference are awarded on the basis of win-loss records to the six next-best teams, regardless of division. The playoffs start with the teams with better records playing the teams with worse records in a best-of-five series, in which the winner is the first team to win three games. In subsequent rounds best-of-seven series are played, with the first team to earn four victories win ning the round. The playoffs continue in this elimination scheme until a conference champion is crowned. The champions from the Eastern and Western conferences then meet in a best-of-seven series to determine the NBA champion.