If it seems like the games are going faster than you’re used to to them being when the Boston Celtics exhibition scrimmage games start next Friday at the Disney-hosted restart in Lake Buena Vista, Florida — it’s not just you.
The NBA has elected to shave a full two minutes off of each of the three exhibition games played by the Celtics (and, of course, all the other scrimmage games played as well) to have four 10-minute quarters instead of the usual 12-minutes ones.
According to the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds, the move (among other reasons) is to lower the impact on recently-returned players as much as possible, and given not all teams will have full rosters at the Disney NBA campus, they would be unduly taxed to field a full 48 minutes of play.
“This is a different situation,” Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle related Saturday via Reynolds. “In all areas, really … I do think that there’s some latitude to do some different things.”
At present, there are plans to broadcast all 33 scrimmages on local or national television, NBA TV and/or League Pass, and we may also see other new wrinkles, such as more than three referees on the floor at a time.
The Celtics kick off their own three-game exhibition schedule with a tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, July 24th at 5 p.m.; for the full schedule of exhibition and regular season games planned for Boston, click here.
