How long does a typical basketball game last?

A typical NBA basketball game lasts around 2 to 2.5 hours in real time, despite the official game clock being 48 minutes divided into four 12-minute quarters. The extra time comes from timeouts, fouls, halftime breaks, instant replay reviews, and clock stoppages. College basketball games, which have two 20-minute halves, usually run about 2 hours. International and FIBA games use 10-minute quarters and tend to finish in a similar timeframe. Playoff games can run slightly longer due to more frequent timeouts and stoppages. If a game goes into overtime, each additional period adds roughly 5 minutes of game time plus additional stoppages.