It seems like the only sports leagues in the world that do this happen to be the big American leagues, but I think it’s time to have a conversation about timeouts. My issue is in the game of basketball as soon as the game begins to flow and the buckets start falling a team will usually call a quick timeout to stem the momentum of the opposition team. This goes for the other major American leagues where games are ruled by timeouts and commercials and an average game will take 3-4 hours to finish.
The issue is however amplified in clutch time. The most notable example is game 2 in the 2021 western conference finals. With only 0.9 left on the clock with the suns down 2, the last 5 seconds of the game took over half an hour to complete due to timeouts and the rule surrounding challenges. I understand the need to take timeouts to draw out plays and defences but personally 30 minutes to finish the last 5 seconds of a game is excessive. Coming from a lifelong AFL fan where the ball is constantly in motion, American sports just require that extra motivation to watch due to their long nature. Personally I feel the game of basketball would be better with less timeouts so that teams use them sparingly and when they rlly need them. Anyways just a quick short rant and go blazers.
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