Basketball games, in general, cannot finish in a draw. If the score is tied at the end of regular, the game proceeds into five minutes of overtime. If the game is still tied at the completion of overtime, another overtime session is played. This process is continued until a winner is determined. If they play all day long, a shootout will be held the next morning to determine a winner.
Ties are very rare in basketball but they do happen from time to time. If you’re part of such a match up and need help determining how it would resolve itself, here’s what would happen: The game would continue indefinitely until one team pulls away clear ahead or falls behind by more than two points. When this happens, the other team can surrender or request a foul call by raising their hand. The referee will then whistle three times before proceeding with the next legal play. As long as both teams remain inactive, the game will not end. However, if one team shoots fouls before the other team does, then that team will lose the game and the match up would become final.
The term “tie” comes from the fact that these matches follow the same rules as actual ties used to occur in other sports. Back in those days, if the score was tied at the end of an entire season of baseball or football, the players would stop running around the field, leave their gloves on the ground, take a water break, and then start over again.
If the score is deadlocked at the end of regulation play in basketball, the teams play additional five-minute overtime sessions until a winner is determined. This method is repeated if the score remains tied after an overtime period. In certain NBA games, up to six extra sessions were required to select a winner. The first four or more overtime periods are called “extensions,” while the last one is called “replay.”
In college basketball, games that go into overtime are usually decided by sudden death rules: If the score is still tied after all five minutes of overtime have been played, the first free throw made by either team scores. If one team makes all its free throws and scores two points, then the other team wins by default. However, some colleges use different rules for overtime; these schools can choose any rule they want as long as it’s used consistently throughout their season.
Tie games are very rare in sports where you need a winner and a loser. In American football, if there is a tie at the end of the regular season, a single playoff game will be held between the two teams to determine a champion. The only other sport where this might happen is baseball during the World Series; since there can only be one winner and no series could possibly end in a tie, one game was always needed to determine the champion.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no If the game is still tied at the completion of regular, a 5-minute extra round will be played to decide the winner. If the game is still tied at the completion of overtime, a second extra session will be played, and so on. As a result, an NBA game cannot conclude in a tie. There have been several attempts to introduce some form of tie-breaker over the years, most recently in 2014 when it was decided that if the score is tied after three overtimes have been played, then the two teams will continue to play one-on-one until someone pulls out ahead by 2 points.
The first NBA game was played on October 31, 1946, with the Boston Celtics defeating the Philadelphia Warriors 111-100. The game was originally intended to be completed in two halves of 45 minutes, but since neither team scored during those first five minutes, the suspension of play was announced. The final score was based on the number of points each team scored during regulation time; because they were deadlocked at 100, they went into overtime, where the Celtics won their first game ever.
Before the introduction of free throws after foul shots, players had to make sure they got their shot off before the end of the quarter or else they would be called for a foul. Because of this, early games up until 1949 were usually close, low-scoring affairs where you could expect about 10 points per quarter.
If the overtime period concludes with the score tied, either because both teams scored field goals on their first possessions and then failed to score again, or because neither team scored throughout the extra period, the game is a draw. Since the advent of overtime, no game has ever ended in a scoreless draw.
However, if you were watching the game and thought it was going into double overtime, you would have been wrong. The rule is that if the game remains tied at the end of 90 minutes, then there will be no further overtime; the only way for the game to be resolved is for one team to win by more than two goals.
This situation occurred during Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016. With under a minute left in regulation time and both teams having a chance to win the game, officials decided there would be no further action taken until the next day’s start time. It turned out to be a good call since the game went into overtime and then eventually into a second stanza without any further changes. The final score was 103-103. Miami won the series 4-3.
There have been other games where no winner could be determined after 90 minutes of play due to the fact that both teams had scored and missed field goal attempts, but they did not go into overtime. One example is the 1994 NFC Championship Game between the Chicago Bears and the Atlanta Falcons.
Basketball ties are uncommon owing to the high-scoring nature of the game; if the score is tied at the end of regulation, the rules provide that as many additional minutes as required will be played until one side has a higher score. A tiebreaker procedure is used to determine who will play in the next round.
In college basketball, if the score is tied at the end of regulation time in any game involving two Division I teams, a three-point shootout will take place immediately following the final buzzer. Each team will get one chance from behind the arc, and if they make all three attempts, there will be no need for extra time. If they fail to make any shots, however, then the game will continue into overtime.
In the NBA, if the score is tied at the end of regulation time in any game involving two or more teams, the referee will blow his whistle and say, “One minute remaining.” (He may say “30 seconds” or “45 seconds” instead.) The first team to score wins, even if they don’t have the ball or don’t have possession. If both teams remain tied after one minute, two minutes are added to the clock.
If the score is still tied at the end of two minutes, the officiating crew will return to their box and signal for a three-point shootout.
Copyright © 2020 - 2026 Sportsmanist Inc.
