Thursday, July 26, 2012

What's so special about 24 seconds?

Have you ever wondered why the NBA shot clock is 24 seconds--not 25, not 30...but 24 seconds?

The 24-second shot clock was invented by Danny Biasone, the owner of the old Syracuse Nationals, who wanted to force teams to pick up the pace of the game.

Biasone reviewed the box scores of games that he enjoyed--games which did not feature a stall or other delaying tactics.  In those more fast-paced games, teams took about 60 shots, on average.  That equated to 120 total shots a game in the 48 minute contest.

The 48 minutes totaled 2,880 seconds, divided by the 120 shots, and--voila--a result of 24 seconds per shot.  Thus was the 24-second clock created...

(Source:  Mental Floss)

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