The basic columns
PF
What does PF mean in basketball?
个人犯规Personal fouls
Fouls charged to this player. Under FIBA rules five ends their game and the NBA allows six. Once a team reaches four in a period, every further defensive foul is two free throws — three if the shot was from behind the arc, and none at all if the foul was an offensive one. A foul on a shot that goes in is always a single free throw, whatever the team count says.
Also writtenF · FC · PFSUpdated 20 Aug 2026
Worked through
Four fouls on the starting centre with six minutes left in the third and most coaches sit him, rather than let a fifth end his night early.
What it leaves out
A low count is not proof of clean defense; it can equally mean nobody contested anything. Fouls drawn and the opponent’s free-throw total carry the other half of the story.
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One term down, the whole sheet to go
The numbers on a sheet lean on each other. How many free throws appear depends on the team foul count; how many rebounds exist depends on how both teams shot. Reading a whole game means reading them together.