Basketball 101: 48 minutes

This is the length of an NBA basketball game. The game is divided into four quarters of equal length. Each of these quarters is 12 minutes long. Between the second and third quarters players are allowed to return to their locking room for a brief rest before commencing the contest. This is called "half-time" as it occurs at the halfway point of the match. The winner is determined by comparing the total number of points that each team scores over the 48 minute span. The team with the most points after all 48 minutes have been played is declared the winner. A winner can only be declared after all 48 minutes have been played.

These are concepts that the Knicks do not understand. They seem to think that playing well for 45 minutes can lead to being declared the winner of a game. Sometimes they think that keeping the scores close in number might lead to a victory. Neither of these things are true. I'm not sure if they know.

Last night, the Knicks may have been under the impression that only a team's best three quarters counted towards the final score. Not true, unfortunately. The Knicks beat the Celtics by a score of 87-79 if you only tabulate the results from quarters 1, 2 and 4. However, due in large part to the fact that they scored half as many points (16) as the Celtics did (32) in the third quarter, the Knicks lost the game, 103-111.