How to keep score in basketball

Basketball scoring at a glance

FIBA vs NBA scoring

The point values are the same in the NBA and under FIBA rules, which most of the world plays. The court and the clock are not:

For young players, the NBA and USA Basketball youth guidelines recommend no three-point baskets at ages 11 and under, so check your league's rules before a kids' game.

Is a shot on the three-point line worth 2 or 3?

Two. The line itself is inside the two-point area, so a shooter with a foot on the line scores 2. What counts is where the shooter last touched the floor before the shot, not where they land: a jump shot taken from behind the line is worth 3 even if the shooter comes down inside it.

When do you get free throws?

Free throws come from fouls, and each one made adds 1 point. An ordinary foul on a player who is not shooting only gives free throws once the fouling team is in the penalty, also called the bonus. Before that, play restarts with a throw-in.

A one-and-one means the second free throw is only taken if the first goes in. US high schools dropped it from the 2023-24 season. The NBA adds one more trigger: in the last 2 minutes of a quarter, a team not already in the penalty gives 2 free throws from its 2nd team foul.

How do you keep a running score?

Write down every made basket and free throw as it happens: the team, the points and the new total. Adding as you go, rather than counting baskets at the end, means the score is always one glance away and a mistake is easy to find. Only made shots count. A missed shot or a missed free throw adds nothing, so there is nothing to write.

Here is the first quarter of a high school game kept that way, including an and-one, three free throws after a foul on a three, and a foot on the line:

How do quarters and halves add up to the final score?

Points add up across the whole game: a new quarter, or a new half in NCAA men's games, never resets the score. The basketball game length guide has the period lengths for every level.

Scorers also keep each team's points per quarter, called the line score. It shows where a game turned, and it is a free check on your running score: the quarters must add up to the final. Here is the rest of the game from the table above:

The Hawks led 22-21 at halftime and the Eagles led 36-34 after three quarters. Both teams had 49 when the 4th quarter ended, so the game went to overtime, which the Eagles won 6-4 for a 55-53 final.

How do you fill in a basketball scorebook?

In an official game the scorer at the table keeps more than the score. A scorebook or scoresheet tracks four things:

• The running score: a column of numbers for each team. After each basket or made free throw, cross off the team's new total and write the scorer's shirt number beside it. FIBA's official scoresheet marks a free throw with a filled dot and circles the shooter's number for a three; other books have their own marks, so follow the key on yours.
• Personal fouls: a box for each foul beside the player's name, so you can tell the officials the moment a player fouls out.
• Team fouls: a count for each quarter (each half in NCAA men's games), which tells you when a team reaches the bonus in the table above.
• Timeouts: a mark for each one taken. Under FIBA rules each team gets these timeouts: 2 in the first half, 3 in the second half, 1 in each overtime.

What happens if a basketball game is tied?

No ties: a level score after regulation goes to overtime. The score carries on from the tie, and teams play as many overtime periods as it takes for one of them to lead at the end of one. How long each overtime lasts depends on the level: see how long overtime is. The one exception is the first game of a FIBA two-game, home-and-away series decided on total points: it can end level, and overtime is played only if the two-game total is tied at the end of the second game.

Overtime points go into their own column of the line score and into the final total. Under FIBA rules, team fouls in overtime count as part of the 4th quarter, so a team already in the penalty stays in it.