NBA will experiment with a 44-minute game in Sunday's Nets-Celtics game

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The Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics will play a 44-minute game — four minutes shorter than a regulation NBA game — Sunday at the Barclays Center.

Playing four 11-minute quarters is a one-time preseason experiment and only exploratory. However, at the recent NBA coaches' meeting in Chicago, the length of games was a topic, and it was suggested the NBA take a look at shortening games.

"We have looked at everything that we do and are taking a fresh look at all the different things we do," NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn said. "One of the things that keeps coming up is our schedule and the length of our games. … Our coaches talked about it, and a lot of them seemed to be in favor of at least taking a look at it. We talked with our competition committee, and they were in favor of taking a look at it."

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Each quarter will have two mandatory timeouts at the first dead ball under 6:59 and the first dead ball under 2:59, and the game will have two fewer mandatory timeouts than a normal game. In a 48-minute game, there are three mandatory timeouts in the second and fourth quarters, and the first mandatory timeout comes at the first dead ball under 5:59.

The league will pay close attention to the length of that game. The total time of an average NBA game is about two hours, 15 minutes.

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Whether the NBA seriously looks at 44-minute game for permanent use, it strengthens the notion that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is open to ideas that challenge the status quo.

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