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Q: I know just about all the [NBA] rules except the mandatory TV timeouts. Could you please inform me. I believe the home team is charged one for the first dead ball under 7:00, but my friend pointed out that the road team must also be charge later to make it fair. Can you give me the complete answer, please?
A: I had the good fortune of being a minor official for NBA exhibition games here where I live (in Calgary), and did five years of minor officiating work in a CBA-level summer league using the same basic rules. Here is the scoop (noting that in some playoff games, an extra media timeout is added that complicates this otherwise elegant system):
If neither team has called a full timeout by the time the clock shows 6:59 each quarter, the home team is charged with a time out on the next stoppage (there are a couple of really minor exceptions). If a timeout was called, there is no mandatory time-out at that time.
The next time marker is 2:59. If a second full time out has not been taken, the team not previously charged with a timeout shall be charged. If two full timeouts have been called in the quarter, there is no mandatory time-out. It does not matter which team called the timeout; any two full timeouts will do.
I hope that is clear. It is really a very elegant and unobtrusive way to get TV time-outs into a game. To make it easier to understand, let's pretend the Raptors are playing in Houston. Each teams starts with 6 full timeouts. Here are how the timeouts might be charged:
1st Quarter
8:02 Toronto calls a full time-out (first mandatory eliminated)
2:45 First stoppage since 2:59; Houston charged with a mandatory time-out
2nd Quarter
6:59 Play stopped for a foul; Houston is charged with a mandatory time-out
2:59 Houston requests a full time-out during play (second mandatory is cancelled)
Note: Although the time listed is 2:59, the same would apply if Houston had called it from the floor earlier (or later, if there were no stoppages)
3rd Quarter
9:40 Toronto calls a full timeout (first mandatory eliminated)
8:55 Toronto calls another full timeout (second mandatory eliminated)
4th Quarter
Note: A team may not call more than four timeouts in the 4th Quarter, nor may they call more than three in the last 2 minutes.
6:55 Houston requests a 20 second timeout; since they would normally be charged with a mandatory timeout on this stoppage, a full timeout is charged instead (the 20 second timeout is returned to them)
1:48 Houston requests a 20 second time-out (this is the first stoppage since 2:59); the 20 second timeout is granted; it is followed immediately by a full time-out charged to Toronto.
I think that covers all the most normal scenarios, and would answer any question you might have.
When we get into playoff mode, they appear to add an additional mandatory at 9:59, but it appears to be outside the regular rule. I suspect the TV-charged timeout would get bumped down to the next time marker if a team voluntarily took an early time-out.
