Basketball owes a lot of its popularity to the fact that it’s an incredibly exciting sport. Games are often close, with many going right down to the wire. In some cases, regulation even ends with a tie. That’s where overtime comes in.
As the name suggests, overtime is an extra period of play that exists when there is no winner at the end of the fourth quarter. Not only is it necessary to determine who wins, it also ups the excitement and creates extra stakes for players and fans alike.
While the format stays the same during both the regular season and playoffs, it’s always one of the best parts of basketball. Nothing is quite as riveting as a close overtime, especially in a playoff or finals series.
Regular Season Overtime Rules
NBA games have a set structure of four, 12-minute quarters broken up into two 24-minute halves. The game goes until time runs out and whoever has the most points wins. If there’s still a tie, both teams play a 5-minute-long fifth period known as overtime.
There is typically only one overtime period. However, if both teams are still tied when the five minutes is up, then there is another overtime after that (known as double overtime). There are an unlimited number of overtimes until one team wins the game.
While the NBA overtime rules are mostly the same as regulation, there are a few exceptions. Most notably, teams enter the free throw bonus on the fourth foul rather than the fifth. Player fouls also carry to overtime, which is something coaches need to balance.
As with the start of the game, overtime begins with a jump ball at the court’s center circle. Play then progresses as it would normally, but only lasts five minutes. There is also a small 1 minute, 30 second break between the end of regulation and overtime.
That short breather helps both teams get set, allows them to plan for the coming period, and enables coaches to make any substitutions or adjustments they may need.
Both teams also only have two timeouts during overtime. That is a critical rule because it makes the period much more fast paced and creates extra back-and-forth. There are fewer stoppages, and teams need to be much more selective about when they want to pause the clock.
They need to be careful with how they play the final two minutes as well. Though coaches can challenge during the first three, they cannot challenge calls once the two-minute mark hits.
One more important note is that the ball can be passed in anywhere on the court during the last two minutes of overtime. That means it does not need to be advanced, making last second shots or game-ending plays much more common in the bonus period.
NBA Overtime History
As the game was never meant to end in a tie, overtime has been around almost as long as basketball. That history means there have been quite a few tight contests that stood out due to excitement in extra-play.
The longest game in league history occurred in 1951, when the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals 75-73 in what is still a record six overtime periods. That game lasted 78 minutes of play time, a mark that hasn’t been touched since.
There have also been two five overtime contests. The first occurred between the Syracuse Nationals and Anderson Packers back in November of 1949, while the other happened between the Bucks and the Sonics on November 9th, 1989.
In the modern era, the longest games lasted four overtime periods. Five occurred during the 2010’s. They were the Blazers vs. Nuggets (2019), Bulls vs. Hawks (2019), Hawks vs. Knicks (2017), Pistons vs Bulls (2015), and the Hawks vs the Jazz (2012).
Such contests last a long time, which also means they lead to a lot of scoring. However, the highest scoring game is not the one with the most overtimes. That occurred between the Nuggets and Pistons in three overtime contests in 1983.
Both teams, tired from the long periods, lacked strong defense. The Pistons ended up edging out the Nuggets 186 to 184, giving a combined score of 370 and putting the game into the record books.
Conclusion
Overtime is not an overly complex part of basketball. It acts as one extra quarter with the same structure and rules as regular play. Even so, there are a few tweaks like the ability to inbound anywhere in the last two minutes and a lack of coaches challenges that make it more exciting.
Players tend to be tired, games are always close, and it’s rare that either team pulls away. For that reason, it’s rare for there to be a lackluster overtime game. They tend to be tight, and create one of the most thrilling aspects of the NBA.
