In the NBA, 20 seconds can last 20 minutes in real time. That needs to change

There are 21.7 seconds left on the clock. Team A’s center grabs a rebound with his team up by two, and he’s promptly fouled by Team B. Nineteen free throws, eight fouls, and about 20 minutes of real-time later, the final buzzer sounds.

The center? Andre Drummond. Teams A and B? The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks last month. Fans’ excitement after a fantastic game of basketball? Shattered.

The end of the Clippers-Lakers match-up the day before wasn’t much better, with the final 25 seconds of the game taking up nearly 20 minutes in the real world.

The final 25 seconds of Clippers-Lakers took roughly 19 minutes. Reviews began around 12:31 ET and the game ended around 12:50 ET.

Like a bizzaro orchestra that builds dramatically before botching the crescendo, the flow of NBA games is in a dire state. It seems the league is now chock-full of relentless, fast-paced, end-to-end action routinely interrupted by jarring stoppages that serve as an unfortunate antidote to the excitement. Intentional fouls, lengthy reviews, excessive timeouts, and free-throws are diluting the potency of the NBA’s product at a time when the explosion of entertainment options across the internet makes loyal fans a precious commodity.

Constant interruptions as time ticks down can be addressed, however. Perhaps the most striking problem is with intentional fouls. A brief explanation for non-basketball fans: a team trailing late in a game will often commit a foul rather than let their opponent run the clock down. The hope is that the team will miss an ensuing free throw, giving the trailing team a chance to grab possession and score. It’s a tactic that rarely works but nearly always extends games and slows down play. Basketball’s world governing body,