How long are NBA games?

You're sitting on a scarred leather couch, sandwiched between a friend of a friend of a friend whose name you can't remember and a sad-looking basset hound who is wondering what all these people are doing at their home.

On the screen in front of you, two NBA teams are playing something approaching basketball. You're not sure who is in the game at this moment but you know it's not LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry or anyone else whose athletic brilliance can make even the most mundane basketball actions into a must-watch event.

You're here because your old college roommate told you to swing by before while you were in town but now you're in a room full of people you don't know, watching a game that appears to have included more fouls than made baskets. The score is 11-9, the little clock thing in the corner says 3:32 and you're wondering how much longer before you can leave.

Unfortunately, it's going to be awhile.

How long is an NBA game?

An NBA game is played for four quarters, each 12 minutes in length. However, a game lasts a lot longer than just 48 minutes.

Unlike soccer, where the clock runs continuously, in the NBA the clock stops after every foul or every time the ball goes out of bounds. Between that, timeouts, halftime, commercials and other interruptions 48 minutes of game time can take anywhere between two and three hours to actually run its course.

And, of course, if the game is tied at the end of those 48 minutes, overtime begins — a succession of extra five-minute periods that continue in their entirety until one ends with one team ahead of the other.

It looks like you're going to be here for a while. Might as well find some snacks and see if you can make friends with that basset hound.