How Long Is a Basketball Game? Everything You Need to Know
Basketball was designed to be a fast game. Players often sprint up and down a court that’s 94 feet long. A fast-paced offense uses long passes to move the basketball from one side of the court to the other in seconds. Every second matters. Even high school games use clocks that measure the time left in a game down to the tenth of a second. Coaches develop offensive and defensive strategies based on time. Some prefer a more methodical pace, trying to use up as much of the clock as possible on their offensive possessions. Others opt to speed up the game, maximizing the number of possessions they have in a game. Time is a critical element that teams use to strategize both offensively and defensively. It’s important to understand how the length of games affects outcomes.
Basketball Length by Level of Play
Below is a chart that shows the length of each game. Games are divided into either four quarters or two halves. Each game has a stop in play that’s called halftime. Teams use it to rest and to strategize for the second half of the game. NBA and college halftimes typically last 15 minutes while a high school halftime is usually 10 minutes long.
| Length | Quarters | Halves | Overtime |
Middle School | Typically, 24 minutes.
| Six-minute quarters.
|
| Between two and five minutes. |
High School | Thirty-two minutes.
| Eight-minute quarters.
|
| Usually four minutes.
|
Men’s College | Forty minutes. |
| Twenty-minute halves.
| Five-minute overtime.
|
Women’s College | Forty minutes. |
| Twenty-minute halves. | Five-minute overtime. |
EuroLeague | Forty minutes. | Four 10-minute quarters. |
| Five-minute overtime.
|
Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) | Forty minutes. |
| Twenty-minute halves. | Five-minute overtime. |
NBA | Forty-eight minutes.
| Four 12-minute quarters. |
| Five-minute overtime. |
The real time length of a game depends on the number of game stoppages. An average NBA game and WNBA game lasts between two and two-and-a-half hours while an average college basketball game lasts two hours. High school basketball games take around 90 minutes. There’s no limit on the number of overtimes. The game ends when one team finishes with more points than the other team.
Timeouts: How Long Are They in Basketball?
The reason for timeouts in basketball is twofold: to get rest for your team during a game and for coaches to make in-game adjustments. For instance, a coach might call a timeout to set up a play for a specific player or perhaps to change defenses. Each level of play has its own guidelines for timeouts. Below is a chart listing the number of timeouts and their length.
| Number | Duration |
Middle School
| Usually, three. | Typically, two 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout.
|
High School | Five. | Three 60-second timeouts and two 30-second timeouts. |
Men's College | Four.
| Three 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout. |
Women’s College | Four. | Three 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout.
|
EuroLeague
| Five. | Two timeouts in the first half and three timeouts in the second half.
|
NBA | Seven. | Timeouts are 1:15 long and teams are limited to four in the fourth quarter and two in the final three minutes. |
WNBA | Five. | Four two-minute timeouts and one 20-second timeout. |
During timeouts, players typically sit on a bench or chairs, with the coach in the middle giving instructions.
In the WNBA, a 20-second timeout, which is called a reset timeout, can only occur in the final two minutes of overtime or regulation. A reset timeout lets the offensive team advance the ball to their offensive side of the court without huddling.
College basketball has eight media timeouts per game. There’s a stoppage after the 16-, 12-, 8- and 4-minute mark of each half. These timeouts allow for advertising breaks for television and radio. The NBA and WNBA also have media timeouts in each quarter and half.
Fouls & Free Throws: How They Extend the Game
When a foul occurs, officials stop the game to record the infraction with the scorekeeper and to shoot free throws in certain situations. Below is an explanation of the types of fouls in a game.
Non-Shooting Foul: A non-shooting foul is usually when a player is bumped, or illegal contact has been made against a player who isn’t in the act of shooting. In this case, play is stopped and the team that was fouled gets the ball out of bounds.
Shooting Foul: A shooting foul is when a player is bumped, or illegal contact has been made against a player who is in the act of shooting. This results in two free throws for the team that was fouled. Shooting fouls take more time to implement than non-shooting fouls because players must line up at the line for the free throws.
Technical Fouls: A technical foul is when a player or a coach act in an unsporting manner or a procedural violation occurs. For instance, a player who incessantly argues with an official could receive a technical. Technical fouls typically extend the game more than shooting and non-shooting fouls because the official must clarify with the scorekeeper the nature of the technical. In this situation, the team gets two free throws and possession of the basketball.
Flagrant Fouls: Flagrant fouls are when a player is physically harmed by another player. A flagrant 1 foul is when the foul’s unintentional and a flagrant 2 is when the foul’s intentional. Flagrant fouls result in two free throws and possession of the basketball. If it’s a flagrant 2 foul, the player who committed it is ejected from the game.
Reviews & Replays: How They Affect the Flow of a Game
Reviews and replays add time to basketball games. Coaches and officials can use instant replay to check certain calls. The instant replay is typically interpreted by a replay official. Replays consume more time than foul calls and timeouts. Below is a chart showing what types of reviews are used at different levels.
| Coaches | Officials |
Middle School | None. | None. |
High School | None. | None. |
Men’s College Basketball | Out-of-bounds calls, goaltending, and basket interference. | Clock issues, scoring errors, shot clock violations, out-of -bounds calls, and flagrant fouls. |
Women’s College Basketball | Out-of-bounds calls, goaltending, and basket interference.
| Clock issues, scoring errors, shot clock violations, out-of-bounds calls, and flagrant fouls.
|
EuroLeague | Personal-foul calls, shot clock reset, and eight-second violations. | Technical fouls, excessive flopping, eight-second violations, flagrant fouls, clock issues, and out-of-bounds calls. |
NBA | Out-of-bounds calls, goaltending, personal-foul calls, and basket interference.
| End-of-period plays, flagrant fouls, off-ball fouls, clock violations, and excessive physical contact. |
WNBA | Out-of-bounds calls, goaltending, personal-foul calls, and basket interference.
| End-of-half plays, flagrant fouls, clock violations, out-of-bounds plays, and back court violations. |
In the NBA, WNBA, the EuroLeague, and college basketball, coaches have challenges. They use their challenges to review a call. In college, the NBA, and WNBA, a coach gets one challenge per game. If they lose the challenge, they don’t get any more challenges. If they win it, they keep their challenge alive. In the EuroLeague, coaches get two challenges. They keep the challenges if they win but lose them if the challenge is unsuccessful.
The “cleaner” the game is, the less time it takes. A clean game is when there are a limited number of fouls and reviews. High school basketball is the fastest because there aren’t reviews. Even though basketball takes much longer in real time than their game lengths, it still takes less time than baseball, football, and soccer.