How Many Quarts Are in Basketball?
Basketball is a famous game and most of you already know the basic rules of basketball. But there are still many more rules and regulations that you should know in order to become a basketball player.
Other than putting the ball into the basket, you should know about the total time allotted to a basketball game and then the time division.
So how many quarts are in basketball? There are usually four quarters in a basketball game, and by the way just so you don’t get confused, a quart is the short term used for quarters.
Now let’s talk about the quarters of the game in detail.
How many quarts are in basketball?
As we have already told you that there are just four quarts in a basketball game usually. And by usually we mean that if both the teams have a tie-up, they will have to play for another interval of time which is called “overtime.”
Each quart in an NBA game consists of the 12-minutes and that becomes 48 minutes of total playing time for all the rounds combined. But when a round is closed, there is two minutes break between the next round. After those two minutes, the next round starts.
Starting of a round of the game is displayed on the stopwatch that starts from the 12:00 minute mark. As time goes by, the stopwatch starts coming back down to 0 where the referee announces a quart.
Now that you know how many quarts are in basketball, you must be thinking about how much time is for overtime if there is a tie-up. So let me tell you that there’s a twist in the rules for overtime.
This is because the overtime is announced only because the current match overall was a tie-up. And therefore, the referees give both teams another opportunity to make the match decisive and win it. Hence, this round consists of only 5 minutes and you will not be allowed to play after those five minutes.
Break lengths between the quarts and what are they called?
The length of each break between the first and second rounds, and the third and the fourth round is just 130 seconds. This is because there is a long break in the middle of the game as well. These short breaks are just to let the players relax and catch their breath for a moment. But after that, the next round starts.
Opposite to these short breaks, there is a long break as well which is called the halftime of the match. This halftime lets the players get ready for the next rounds and comes between the second and the third round. Teams use this time to go back into their locker rooms and talk about how they played the first half. It is a very beneficial time to decide what we should do in the second half.
We’ve seen so many teams suddenly start making huge progress after halftime by changing their game strategies. They change their attacking and defending lineups, the overall tactical planning, and even go from 0 – 100 real quick. Actually, this is because the players kind of understand the game scenario at that time and they use this knowledge to take their next decisions.
Are all the quarters the same?
No, not all the leagues and tournaments have the same quarts in their rule book. This is because even in the NBA, there is a huge match flow difference between high school basketball and the NBA. The total time of a quarter in the NBA is 12 minutes but the total time of a quarter in the high school may be according to their own rules.
The NCAA doesn’t even have the four quarts in their matches because they play straight 20 minutes and that makes it two halves and that’s it. On the contrary, the NBA league matches are played as we have told you earlier.
The quarter difference is a huge thing in basketball but all the leagues and authorities have their different rules. For example, NBA has a quarter of 12 minutes but the high schools usually end up a quart only in 8 minutes. Similarly, the international bodies of basketball regulations have 10-minute quarts in their matches.
Women’s Basketball Games
The women’s basketball association which is called the WNBA Women’s National Basketball Association has very different rules than men. They have only two 20 minutes quarters with the game lasting 40 minutes in total.
Yes, there are four quarters in the basketball game. The time duration of each quarter is different according to the rules of the working bodies. But the quarts are just four.
According to the international rules of basketball, there are four quarters in a game. The duration of each quart is exactly 10 minutes in a basketball match and then a 2 minute break in between the next round except the halftime.
Usually, basketball games last at most 2 hours but the average time for an NBA basketball match is 48 minutes. If we count the overtime into that, then it can go up to two hours as well.
The 4 in basketball is the shooting guard that is designated as the shortest player of the team. He/she will keep an eye on the court, pass the basketball, and dribble it fast to play their role in the victory.
How long is 1 quarter in a basketball game?
- 12 minutes
- 10 minutes
- 8 minutes
The quarter-time of an NBA match is 12 minutes and the quarter-time for an international basketball match is 10 minutes. And the high school basketball quarters usually last 8 minutes.
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