The length of the halftime break in the schedule of an NBA game is 15 minutes, as stipulated by rules of the Association.
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First-time viewers of the sport will be slightly confused by the fact that NBA games and FIBA games are of different lengths. They will have noted that in international league basketball games and inter-country play, the length of a quarter is only 10 mins. Whereas in the NBA it is at 12 minutes.
This makes the length of a match 48 minutes in total, in contrast to 40 minutes in international play. The length of the NBA game has been increased so as to give the more skilled teams a better chance of winning. An increased quarter length also means that the fitter team has a higher possibility of winning.
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How long is halftime in the NBA?
The NBA has stipulated that the halftime break in every game will be 15 minutes of length in total. Most teams do no stay in the locker room beyond 7-8 minutes. The tactical changes to made, if any, are discussed in this time period, before the team heads out to shoot some more warmup shots.
The two inter-quarter breaks are of 3 minutes in length in all cases.
The NBA also has 7 timeouts in comparison to the 5 stipulated breaks in international games. n each quarter, there are two mandatory timeouts. If no team has taken a timeout prior to 6:59 of the period, the official scorer declares it at the first dead ball and charges it to the home team.
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If no subsequent timeouts have been taken prior to 2:59 of the period, the official scorer declares it and charges it to the team not previously charged. The first and second timeouts in a quarter are extended to 2:45 for locally televised games and 3:15 for nationally televised games, to accommodate advertising.
