NBA India Games: 5 things you need to know about the basketball league

National Basketball Association (NBA) is w setting its foot in India where league has been gaining a lot of fans lately. Sacramento Kings are playing Indiana Pacers at NSCI Dome in Mumbai on Friday and Saturday. games played will be two pre-season games and t a part of 2019-20 regular season that will begin later this month. This is first time an American Sports League is setting its foot on Indian soil. If it is your first time watching NBA, here are five things you might want to kw about sport and league.

ALSO READ | NBA India Games Live: When and where to watch Kings vs Pacers

Game length

NBA game has four quarters and each lasts for 12 minutes. A single game technically runs for 48 minutes but in-game situations like fouls, time-outs, ball going out of bounds, etc. make game go on for a length of two to two and a half hours. After two quarters, players also get a rest period of 15-minutes. In or words – half time. 

ALSO READ | NBA in India: Indian national anm to play before game for first time

League progression

league consists of 30 teams divided into two conferences of 15 each. league final is played between winner of Western Conference and Eastern Conference. top eight teams from each conference battle each or out in First Round, Conference Semis, and Conference Finals. winners of both Conference Finals play NBA Finals.  Finals consists of seven games where team winning most games takes Larry O'Brien trophy home.

Player contracts

NBA teams loop in fresh players in NBA Draft which takes place in June, every year. re are two rounds in Draft and each round has 30 picks. Or than this, teams can also trade players with or teams. A player who is t contracted to any team is a free nt.

ALSO READ | NBA in India: Priyanka Chopra returns to Mumbai for game

How to watch matches?

In India, league is broadcasted by Sony Network and matches can be watched on channels in Sony Network. se include - Sony Six, Sony ESPN, Ten1, and Ten3. matches can also be streamed online on Sony LIV platform.

Defending champions

Toronto Raptors are defending NBA champions. y faced Golden State Warriors in 2018-19 Finals. y won league in sixth match of Finals after having lead on Warriors 4-2.

ALSO READ | NBA in India buildup sees floating court & preview of what is to come