FASTER-PACED, SHORTER GAMES REGISTERED

Red Bull-Welcoat match took 1 hr, 50 mins to finish with shorter lulls
Philippine Basketball Association website
Thursday, 25 October 2007

THE PBA’s new rules, aside from letting the players play, is also producing another good result: The games are played shorter now.

Proof is the way Red Bull and Welcoat wound up their game last Wednesday in just one hour and 50 minutes, far shorter than the more than two hours it took to finish each regulation game in the season’s first 32 seasons.

“This only tends to show our efforts to speed up the game while providing more action is bearing beneficial fruits,” said PBA OIC Sonny Barrios.

The new rules, when introduced in the 2007-08 Smart PBA Philippine Cup, were initially greeted with alarm and concerns the games might lean on the rough side and players will be injured.

Barrios has quelled those apprehensions by pointing out the fact the referees and players have adjusted, leading to a big jump in the improved quality of officiating in only the season’s first week.

Then comes this latest news that means fans can leave the venue earlier than past practices, when games can even drag on for as much as three hours in case of multiple extensions.

According to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III, the previous shortest game recorded this conference was 1:51, when Purefoods beat Talk 'N Text 112-97 last Saturday in Dumaguete City.

Helping shorten last Wednesday’s quick Red Bull-Welcoat game, pointed out Mangonon, was the combined 39 fouls called, also the fewest in a game this conference.

Last season, PBA games averaged 52.6 fouls a game. So far in the Philippine Cup that number is down to 50.6. (NCo)