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How Long Is A Basketball Game? Quick Look

 

Basketball can be a little confusing, when it comes to rules it depends on the league or level of play as the rules are not universal. Such is the case when it comes to the length of a basketball game. So, just how long is a game you ask.

How long is a basketball game? The Length of a basketball game will depend on the league and level of play. An NBA game is 48 mins long (4 x 12 Min Qtr), a WNBA game is 40 minutes ( 4 x 10 Min Qtr), NCAA Game is 40 mins for both the Men and Women games (2 x 20 Min Halves). A high school game is 32 mins in length (4 x 8 Min Qtr), some states have 10 minute quarters.

Now that we know how long a basketball game is, the question you are still probably wondering is how many minutes or hours does a basketball game takes to watch? How long is viewer time from beginning to end? Let’s take a look.

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How Long Are Basketball Games From Start to Finish?

High School

A high school basketball game can take 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes, this will depend on how long the halftime is which generally for a high school game could be 10 to 15 minutes, foul calls and overtime. These all play a factor in the length of the game.

 

NCAA Men’s/Women

An NCAA basketball game can take up to 1 and a half to 2 hours. If the games are televised, there are TV timeouts and advertisements that need to be shown to help pay for the network to broadcast the game. Around two hours is generally viewer time.

 

WNBA 

Like a college basketball game but with the four 10 minute quarters, it is relatively the same length and viewing time. A WNBA halftime is around 15 minutes. Overtime If needed would be 5 minutes.

 

NBA

An NBA game is the longest out of all the leagues with 48 minutes of game time, with 12 minute quarters you are looking at two and a half hours of viewing time. With Halftime being 15 minutes, The number of fouls, and free throws at the line definitely adds to the longevity of the game.

 

Fun Fact: The longest game ever played was between the Indianapolis Olympians and the Rochester Royals in 1951 with a record of 78 minutes played that saw 6 overtimes. The end score was 75 to 73 for the Olympians.

 

Break Down In Minutes

The stopped time consists of foul calls, timeouts, violations and TV timeouts (Ads & Sponsors). This stopped time is what makes each game in their respective league much longer than the game time. Here is a breakdown of where all those minutes come from.

 

Foul Shots & Violations

When a foul is called the clock is stopped, the ref than walks over to the scorer’s table to report the foul. As the ref reports the foul the players line up at the free-throw line if it was a shooting foul or set up the out of bounds play.

If it is a shooting foul that is two shoots by the time that the ref makes the call, report it and the last free throw is shot, you are looking at about 45 seconds to a minute. If that happens another 20 times we are looking at about 20 minutes of viewer time on foul alone. But it actually happens more in an NBA game, the average per game in the 2018/19 game is 43 fouls a game. That’s anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes of watch time.

 

Halftime

Halftime is the break-in between halves in a college game and 2nd and 3rd quarters in every other league. Players rest and coaches strategize with their team to make adjustments, see what’s working or change what’s not. Halftime can take 15 mins, sometimes more in televised games. Halftime shows can prolong a half with setup and takedown of performances. If you would like to read more about Halftime Click Here!

 

Timeouts

How many timeouts are used and called are dependant on strategy and the league’s rules, the NBA once had 18 timeouts throughout a game between the two teams, plus referee timeouts that was almost 20 timeouts throughout the game. They have since changed the rule and now have seven – 75 second timeouts for the game while each team must take on every quarter. Teams are only allowed to take 2 in the final 2 mins of play. In overtime, teams get 2 timeouts for each overtime they play.

 

Substitutions

Throughout the game, the coach can substitute as many players as he wishes, as long as the clock is stopped and the ref signals it in. Substitutions don’t take as long but can be a couple of minutes overall to the viewer’s time. Will the NBA find a way to somehow change this.

 

TV Timeouts

TV timeouts and commercial breaks are a very important part of the NBA and the promotion of its product. Advertisements help pay the network so they can broadcast the game, without sponsors and advertisements you have no league and or viewers. These TV timeouts are considered the same as timeouts taken by the team.

The rules state that each team must take a timeout each quarter, this is where the TV timeout would come into play.

 

Video Review

The time has come that every major sport now has video review in some form for referees to examine a call, the same goes for the NBA and the time it takes is unbelievable really. They go through what seems like a series of angles before making a decision.

Every sport should do what the National Hockey League does and have video review referees in an office reviewing game footage live as it happens and report the outcome to the referee. There is a panel of three judges that make the call. You would eliminate a lot of time waiting, and no one can blame the referees on the court. These reviews take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes.

 

Action Time
Shooting Fouls Up to one Minute a foul
Substitutions/Violations 14 to 45 seconds a call
Timeouts 17.5 Mins not counting overtime
TV Timeouts Goes hand and with Timeouts
Video Review 1 x 2 to 5 Mins

Fun Fact: On Dec 13, 1981 between the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets, both teams combined for a record 370 points in one game. 186 to 184 for the Pistons.

 

The NBA Is Speeding Up The Game

The NBA is already piloting a free-throw rule in its developmental league. The G-League has a one-shot foul system in which if your a fouled on a shot you shoot one free throw for however many points you were attempting to score. This could be 2pts from mid-range to a layup or behind the three-point line.

For example, if you were fouled on a midrange or layup shot attempt and you make the one and only shot from the free-throw line your team gets 2 points. If you miss the shot play resumes, the same as being fouled on the three-point line. You would shoot one shot for three points as opposed to three free-throws.

If you’re wondering what happens if they make an and 1, they would shoot for 1 point. They are doing this as they are trying to find ways to speed up the game of basketball. I really like this rule and hope the NBA adopts it one day, it doesn’t change much as far as records but does have a different dynamic at the end of a game in which you are trying to come back. Forcing the opposing team to make their free throw with more added pressure.

The last 2 minutes can take forever in a game, I am not sure if this speeds up the end of the game or prolongs it. You have a team fouling to get the ball back now with more pressure added for that one-shot. If you miss the team easily gets the ball back to possibly have a chance to tie the game, which makes it longer if it goes into overtime with an easier chance of coming back from a deficit.

There is a lot of strategies too, If your team is on defense you don’t want to foul, or do you? What if you had a Shaq in the post trying to score a game-winner, wouldn’t you want to play super aggressive defense and hope for a no-call but if the ref calls a foul on you, you might be in a better position to get the ball back as now he must make the shot at the free-throw line.

So what if you can get a Shaq on the line is it worth taking a chance and getting the ball back if your down one or tied with 40 seconds left? If the game is tied and during the season someone shoots 50 percent, I strongly believe in pressure situations that can go way down.

This rule can completely change everything, more games will go into overtime, more teams will come back when the game looks like a done deal. Adam Silver wants to speed up the game, but at the same time, the game is longer with the number of foul calls. How does that make sense? Silver addressed that and says the game is all about flow.

 

Question & Answers

 

How long is overtime?

Overtime in all leagues regardless of the set of rules is 5 minutes in length. If the game remains tied after overtime, a second overtime will be played and it will consist of again 5 minutes.

 

What does runtime mean?

Run time is a term used at the lower basketball levels that basically let the time run during the game without stopping the clock until the quarter or half comes to an end. Some leagues have a run time when a team is up after 20 points.

 

How long does overtime take in real-time?

Overtime can take an additional 10 to 15 minutes to the viewer’s time.

 

Does the clock stop after a score?

In the NBA the clock does not stop after a score until the last 2 minutes of the game. So after a score, the clock would stop until the ball is inbounded and touched by the player.

 

Why Do players roll the ball on the inbound after a score and not pick it up until they reach half court?

Players do this when their team is down a basket or they are trying to buy more time on the clock as there may be very little time left in the quarter or game.

For example, if there are only 2 minutes left in the game and a team is down a couple of baskets, allowing the ball to roll saves the time necessary that you would waste dribbling the ball up the court because the clock starts not when the ball is on the court but when someone touches it.

 

How long is Pre-Game warmup?

The NBA Gets a very long pre-game warmup the players are out there sometimes 2 hours before the game shooting doing mobility drills and working with trainers. Players who are out there are sometimes injured working on movements in the form of rehab for their specific injury.

But in general, a basketball game can have anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes of warm-up time depending on the start time and games prior to the game and what the schedule is after the game.

 

How much time do you get in between quarters?

Not much time between quarters think of it as a time out or a lot less than that.

 

How long is the shot clock?

Basketball League Shot Clock Seconds
NBA 24 secs
WNBA 30 secs
FIBA 30 secs
NCAA 30 secs
High School 30 -35 secs

 

How long do you have to inbound the ball?

Universal in all leagues you have 5 seconds.

 

How long do you have to take a free-throw?

10 seconds to shoot a free-throw, for more on free-throws Click Here!

 

How long do you have to pass the centerline before a violation occurs?

You have 10 seconds to cross the centerline from the backcourt. The NBA rules only allow 8 seconds, anything less and it is a turnover to the other team.

 

This concludes the article I hope you learned something new, please feel free to look around and check out my other content. Come back soon as I will have a bunch of reviews coming up on different products and equipment.

 

Further Readings: