Game Day

Every game is played out one possession at a time on a real clock: four 12-minute quarters, and 5-minute overtimes if needed. Each trip takes as long as the play does, so a fast team burns fewer seconds per possession and both teams end up with more trips. Nothing is scripted: results come from the ten players on the floor, their fatigue and the two game plans.

On each trip one player starts the action. Guards and good ball-handlers start it most often, key players get extra touches, and your focus pushes the ball toward players who fit it (post scorers when you go inside, shooters when you go outside). The play can be a pick-and-roll, isolation, post-up, drive, cut, handoff or spot-up. With more ball movement the ball often swings to an open teammate first. Every possession can also end in a turnover. Weak handlers, poor passers, traps, bad chemistry and tired legs make that likelier.

Both teams line up on a court, and each shot is judged by how close the nearest defender is. Wide-open looks go in much more often than contested ones. Quick defenders close out faster; very tall defenders are a touch slower getting out to the arc. Smarter players take better shots: one with strong makeup passes up a bad look and finds a shooter, where a less aware one just takes it. Hot players sometimes force a heat check. When a star gets hot, the defense may send a double team, which can force a turnover or leave a shooter open.

Late in a close fourth quarter, the team in front works the clock and avoids threes. A team down one or two attacks the rim, and a team down three or more hunts threes. A trailing team fouls on purpose to stop the clock unless its game plan says not to.

Every minute on the floor tires a player, and the fourth quarter tires them a little more than the first. Fast games, the press, demanding defenses, high intensity and playing past their minutes add to it. Key players also tire a bit faster because the ball is in their hands. Stamina is the rating that matters most. Tired players lose quickness first, then their legs, then their skills, and strength last. They also turn it over and foul more.

Sitting on the bench brings a player back gradually. Halftime resets most of it, and a timeout helps a little. When a player is badly worn down, the coach takes them out, unless it's crunch time. Players also carry tiredness in from recent games (see Depth Chart & Minutes).

Fouls follow pro basketball rules. A player fouls out on their sixth personal foul. Once a team commits five fouls in a quarter, the other team is in the bonus and shoots free throws on non-shooting fouls. Offensive fouls count against the player but not toward the bonus. Late in the fourth quarter, a foul away from the play gives the other team a free throw and the ball. Tired defenders and the press add fouls, and the home team gets a slightly friendlier whistle.

The coach sits players who pick up fouls too early in a quarter. Your foul trouble setting decides how early (see Game Plan). In crunch time, your closing five stay in through fourth-quarter foul trouble.

A technical foul gives the other team one free throw, and a second technical ejects the player. A hard foul at the rim can be called flagrant: the fouled team shoots and keeps the ball, and the worst flagrants are ejections. A player who fouls out, is ejected or gets hurt is replaced by the best available bench player. If nobody is left, a fouled-out player stays in (the pro basketball rule), and a team that loses a player to injury or ejection plays short.

Coaches call timeouts on their own, usually to stop the other team's run. Each team has a limited number of timeouts, and each overtime adds a couple more. At halftime a good staff adjusts on its own. After a cold first half, it flips the offensive focus or cuts back on threes. A strong defensive staff that's getting scored on switches to its second defense.

Clutch time is a close game late in the fourth quarter or overtime. In clutch time, composure matters: quick, well-conditioned players and true stars tend to hold up, and good chemistry helps a team execute. Makeup shows too: smarter players make fewer late-game mistakes with the ball. Crunch time is the very end of those close games. Then your closing five check in and stay in, past their minutes and without regular rotation or fatigue subs. If you haven't set a full closing five, the best available five close, leaving out anyone who is ice-cold. In the playoffs, chemistry and clutch pressure count for more.

A tie after regulation goes to a 5-minute overtime, as many as it takes. The closing-five rules apply there too. If the commissioner has turned overtime off, a tie is settled by alternating possessions until one team is ahead. No game ends tied.

Home court helps the home team's shooting, and helps more when the home team has good chemistry. A road team with good chemistry holds up better away from home. The commissioner can turn home court off or change how strong it is.

In a blowout, the trailing team plays harder and the leading team eases off, so big leads tend to shrink a bit. Once a fourth-quarter game is decided, the coach pulls the starters for the bench (garbage time). Your garbage time setting decides how soon, or whether it happens at all.

Injuries can happen during a game, mostly on contact plays like drives and post-ups. Tired players get hurt more often, and durable, strong, well-conditioned players get hurt less. An injured player leaves the game right away and is listed as minor, moderate or serious. The commissioner sets how often injuries happen and how bad they are. The commissioner can also switch fatigue, fouls, the press, clutch, technicals and ejections off league-wide.

The box score has the score by quarter (and overtime), then each player's minutes, points, rebounds (offensive and defensive), assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, fouls and shooting, split into starters and bench. The play-by-play runs quarter by quarter. It shows the starting lineups, every shot, rebound, turnover, steal, block and foul, plus substitutions, timeouts, fast breaks, double teams, technicals, foul-outs, ejections and injuries. A player playing through a day-to-day injury has a dagger (†) next to their name.