I’m new to the NBA and I understand that fouls when you are shooting the ball will give you free throws. What I don’t understand is at times there is a mention of “Team A has X amount of fouls to give”. What does that mean? Can somebody explain this to me??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_(basketball)?wprov=sfla1
After a certain amount of fouls, every foul lead to free throws.
In tight games this means one team can defend aggressively and take more risks than the other until they hit bonus.
You’ll see teams intentionally foul in this scenario late which forces the offense to reset their action.
It’s hard to draw up a good shot when you only have 7/8 seconds from a side out vs a full shot clock bringing the ball up where you can get the ball into the hands of whoever you want.
if your team racks up 5 fouls in a quarter, or 2 in the final 2 minutes, each foul is automatically two foul shots. so if you have 4 fouls in the quarter, you have “1 to give” before it results in automatic free throws.
Your explanation is correct but your example is wrong.
If you have four fouls in the quarter, then you don’t have any fouls to give. The next foul (the fifth foul) will result in free throws
If you have three fouls, then you have a foul to give, because the next foul (the fourth) will not result in free throws.
Note than you start the quarter with four fouls to give (fifth foul is the bonus penalty).
Also note that you cannot have more than one foul to give in the final two minutes of the quarter.