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NBA + WNBA

basketball rules.

Before the jargon, the actual structure: how points happen, how long you're committing to, and what happens when it's close. Six questions, plain answers.

How is basketball scored?

A basket inside the arc is worth 2 points. Beyond the arc (the 3-point line) it's 3. Free throws, awarded after certain fouls, are worth 1 point each and are taken unguarded from the same spot every time. Most possessions end in 2, and a made 3 is the shot that flips a room's mood the fastest.

Three-pointer. That's a bigger swing than it looks, six points in the gap.

How long is a basketball game?

The NBA plays four 12-minute quarters (48 minutes of clock time). The WNBA plays four 10-minute quarters. In both, the clock stops constantly for fouls, timeouts, and out-of-bounds, so an actual broadcast runs closer to two and a half hours.

We're at the end of the third. One more quarter, give or take a commercial break.

What happens if a basketball game is tied?

Teams play a 5-minute overtime period. If it's still tied after that, they play another 5 minutes, and another, until someone leads when the clock hits zero. There is no sudden death. A team can still be ahead with a second left and lose the ball, so stick around.

Tied game, heading to overtime. Nobody's leaving the couch now.

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What is the shot clock?

A team has 24 seconds to attempt a shot once they have the ball, or possession turns over to the other team. It's why basketball never really slows down. Nobody can just sit on the ball.

Shot clock's at five. Somebody has to shoot this or it's a turnover.

What happens when a player fouls out?

In the NBA, a player is disqualified from the rest of the game after their sixth personal foul (five in the WNBA and college). Team fouls matter too: once a team accumulates enough fouls in a quarter, every foul after that sends the other team to the free-throw line automatically, called the “bonus.”

That's his sixth foul. He's done for the night, whether he likes it or not.

How do the NBA and WNBA playoffs work?

The NBA runs four rounds, each a best-of-seven series (first to four wins advances), to crown a champion. The WNBA's postseason is shorter and uses shorter series in its early rounds too: best-of-three, then best-of-five, with only the Finals going best-of-seven. Either way, a series can flip entirely on one bad shooting night, which is most of why playoff basketball gets so tense.

Down 2-1 in the series. Lose tonight and they're one game from elimination.

Other sports

Football.Baseball.Hockey.Soccer.

Want the jargon too? The basketball glossarycovers the terms you'll hear once you already know how the game works.

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Hail Mary explains exactly this stuff live during the game, in your group chat. iOS, summer 2026.

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