Malta - That’s a long game!

From www.independent.com.mt
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This week’s article will deal with my sport, namely basketball, and a piece of interesting fresh news coming out just earlier this week.

Many people may be aware that a basketball game, under FIBA rules, is 40 minutes long (spread over four equal quarters of 10 minutes each) whereas there are 48 minutes of play in the NBA. These 40 minutes are not running time but effective playing time which basically means that the clock is stopped each time the ball goes out of play or when the game is interrupted by the referee for a violation or a foul and is only restarted when actual play, five versus five, recommences.

This means that there is no set standard time for a game to start and to finish but a full game’s duration will depend on many factors occurring throughout the game.

Similarly, others may be also aware that a regular league game could never end at par as there are no drawn games in league basketball. If two teams are tied after regular time, extra period/s is/are played until the deadlock is finally broken. These overtime periods are five minutes long, again made up of effective playing time.

Just last Tuesday, a record was broken during a game played in Berlin valid for Group A of the ULEB Cup. In fact in this official game, Alba Berlin needed a total of five overtime periods before finally beating KK Bosna 141-127 at the Max Schmeling Hall in the German capital.

The game was the first five-overtime game in either the ULEB Cup or the Euroleague and set the record for most points scored (268) in a ULEB Cup game.

The score was tight at 16-15 for Berlin after the first quarter. A 21-21 second quarter meant that the one-point gap between the two teams was still present at half-time, 37-36.

A 6-0 Bosna run helped the visiting team to lead 57-53 at the end of the third quarter. Bosna also managed to open up a 62-53 maximum lead early in the fourth quarter. The latter still led 69-65 seconds from the end, but an unsportsmanlike foul helped Berlin to force overtime.

However it still looked like a normal game when Bobby Brown (who subsequently finished with 44 points, the second-most ever scored in the competition) made free throws to tie the game at 71-71, sending it to overtime, a normal procedure and happening in basketball.

Three-pointers on each side cancelled each other in this first overtime with Berlin taking a slight lead but Bosna, through an Edin Bavcic put-back shot, forced the second overtime at 82-82.

Although Berlin went 91-87 in the lead, Bosna fought back strongly and managed to force a third overtime, through free throws, at 97 points per team.

Just seven seconds from the end of this third overtime period, two free throws helped Bosna go 111-108 ahead and looked set for victory. Yet Brown, once again, was Berlin’s hero as he scored a buzzer-beating three-pointer for 111-111 and the need of the fourth overtime.

One more time it was the visitors, Bosna who opened a narrow lead 121-116 through their top scorer Lance Williams but the over 5,000 spectators in the gym witnessed another comeback when Brown potted crucial free throws to once again tie the game at the end of overtime at 122-122. Thus a fifth overtime period was forced!

Both teams were now in serious foul trouble but it was Bosna who suffered most as they were left with just five players and Berlin took full advantage to net a game winning 14-0 run to finally end this marathon game at 141-126 (although the resulting final margin surely does not give a true indication of the balance that existed between these two teams in this game that lasted a total of 65 effective playing minutes)

There was also another interesting fact in this match as Berlin’s pivot player, Goran Nikolic, played a record 63 minutes and 40 seconds throughout the whole game.

Commenting after the game, Nikolic said, “I don't know how I will feel tonight and tomorrow. I could cry, when I think about how many parts of my body are aching. I feel so weak, but nevertheless I am only happy, that we have won this game. This is not only a game to remember, but also a really important win for us, which will put us forward. We found the energy as a team, everybody found some extra energy inside.”

On his part, Berlin’s coach Luca Pavicevic stated, “This game will always be remembered by all who were here today. Bosna came out ready to win and when you share a battle like this you have to congratulate your opponent. Now we have to recover and keep on fighting.”

Whilst on the subject, enthusiasts may be interested in getting to know that the longest NBA game ever was played in 1951 and ended after a total of six overtime with the Indianapolis Olympians (disbanded in 1953) beating the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) 75 – 73.

This game was played on the 6th of January and lasted 78 minutes of playing time.

The final score of 75-73 is not a mistake as at that time there was no shot clock rule and teams could hold on to the ball as much as they liked.

In fact statistics show that there were only a scanty total of 23 shot attempts in the combined total of 30 minutes of overtime. At the start of each overtime, the team that earned the tip just held on to the ball for one last shot.

Players just stood around gaping and staring at each other. Some of the loyal Rochester fans booed, and hundreds of others walked out of the gym as they just could not stand the slow-down stalling tactics of both teams.

The same 1950 – 51 season is definitely not remembered for scoring as earlier in the season the lowest scoring game ever played took place with Fort Wayne edging out Minneapolis 19 – 18. In the game, the two teams combined for just 31 shots.

Experts state that this game eventually paved the way for the 24 second shot clock.