A backboard is a piece of
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
equipment. It is a raised vertical board with a basket attached. It is made of a flat, rigid piece of material, often plexiglass. It is usually
rectangularIn Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle...
as used in NBA, NCAA and international basketball. But many backboards may be
ovalAn oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...
, particularly in non-professional games.
A basketball hoop is flexibly mounted to a basketball backboard via a flexible connection between the backboard and the connection supporting the hoop. The shock of a basket or a dunk is absorbed by the connecting part, so that the rim goes back to a horizontal position once again.
In contrast to basketball,
beach basketballBeach Basketball is a modified version of basketball, played on beaches. It was invented in the USA by Philip Bryant.- USA :Beach basketball is played in a circular court with no backboard on the goal and no out-of-bounds rule, with the ball movement to be done via passes or 2½ steps, as dribbling...
and
netballNetball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
use baskets that have no backboards.
Diagram of basketball backboard
Layout prescribed by the
rulesThe rules of basketball are the rules and regulations that govern the play, officiating, equipment and procedures of basketball. While many of the basic rules are uniform throughout the world, variations do exist. Most leagues or governing bodies in North America, the most important of which are...
of the
International Basketball FederationThe International Basketball Federation, more commonly known as FIBA , from its French name Fédération Internationale de Basketball, is an association of national organizations which governs international competition in basketball...
, the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
, and the
National Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
.