How to play
Twenty-Four
6 possessions. 24 seconds each. Spend them well.
The look
Every possession opens with a look: a shot somebody really took, from where they really took it, carrying that shooter’s own measured expected points from that part of the floor. An average NBA shot is worth 1.09 points, so anything above that is a shot the league would be happy with.
Nothing about the look is hidden. This is not a game about valuing a shot — Long Two already is. The only question here is whether the one in front of you is good enough, given what the clock has left.
Spending the clock
You do not get the ball with a shot already available. Four to seven seconds are gone before the first look, because that is how long it takes to get the ball across half court and into something.
After that there are three ways to keep working, and each costs seconds:
- Swing it — 3s. Move the ball. Finds a catch-and-shoot three.
- Drive — 4s. Put it on the floor. Finds the paint and the rim.
- Set a screen — 5s. Costs the most, reaches everywhere. Including the places you do not want.
There is no timer on your thinking. Take as long as you like; the clock only moves when you spend it. When it can no longer pay for anything, the work buttons disappear and you shoot whatever you are holding — which is exactly what a shot clock does to a real offence.
What the clock is actually worth
This is the part worth reading twice, because it is the whole game and it is measured rather than invented. Across 486,281 shots of play-by-play, with the shot clock reconstructed possession by possession:
| Seconds used | Two-point | Three-point |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4s | 1.260 | 1.023 |
| 4–8s | 1.212 | 1.096 |
| 8–12s | 1.088 | 1.101 |
| 12–16s | 1.049 | 1.089 |
| 16–20s | 1.022 | 1.079 |
| 20–24s | 0.937 | 1.019 |
A two-point shot is worth 1.26 early in a possession and 0.94at the death — it loses roughly a quarter of its value. A three goes from 1.02 to 1.02, which is to say it barely notices.
That single asymmetry is the reason a modern offence which has burned its clock ends up behind the arc, and it is the thing the game will teach you by taking points off you until you notice.
What is measured and what is a rule
Worth being exact about. Measured: what each shooter is worth from each part of the floor; what the shot clock does to a two and to a three; how often the league shoots from each zone, which is the mix the looks are drawn from.
Rules of this game: that a swing costs three seconds and finds a three, that a drive costs four and finds the paint, that a screen costs five and can find anything. Those numbers were chosen so the three buttons do genuinely different things. They are not a measurement of how NBA offences work, and the site will not pretend otherwise.
How you win
Your score is the expected points you generate across 6 possessions. The bar is 7.04 — what you would score by shooting the opening look every single time. Beat it and you have won.
- The opening look is already above 1.20
- Shoot it.You are being handed a better shot than most possessions end in. Working from there risks trading it for something worse and paying clock for the privilege.
- It is early and there is a two on offer
- This is the best moment it will ever have.A two is worth 15% more than its own average in the first four seconds. The same shot at the buzzer is worth 14% less.
- You are past halfway down the clock
- Stop looking for twos and swing for a three.The three has held its value the whole way down and the two has not. Late in a possession they have converged, and one of them is worth an extra point when it goes in.
- You have six seconds and a mediocre look
- Take it.A swing costs three seconds and might hand you something worse with no clock left to fix it. Being forced at the buzzer is the worst outcome in the game.
The bar of 7.04 is not the league average — six average NBA shots come to 6.52. It is higher, because the opening looks are early-clock looks and those are genuinely good. Beating the league here would not prove anything; beating your own passivity does.
Scoring
Expected points, added up over 6 possessions, to two decimal places. There is no luck in it: you are scored on the quality of the shots you generated, not on whether they went in, which is the same principle Long Two is built on.
One attempt a day, the same six possessions for everybody. Unlimited deals a fresh six whenever you want another go.
Golfle is an independent game platform and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the NBA, any member team, or the NBPA. Team and player names are used for identification and factual game context.