The basketball played and watched in Moldova follows FIBA rules — the international federation's — not the NBA's, which differ at enough points to trip up anyone who learned the game from TV. Below are FIBA's rules, with every point where the NBA differs spelled out.
Five players on court, an unlimited bench
Each team fields five players on court at a time — a rule that dates to 1900; before that, the number of players wasn't fixed. The rest of the squad, up to twelve named for the game, sits on the bench. Substitutions have been unlimited in number since 1945: before that, a substituted player could re-enter once, then twice, until the restriction was dropped entirely.
Four ten-minute quarters, not twelve like the NBA
A FIBA game is played in four ten-minute quarters, with two-minute breaks between the first and second quarters and between the third and fourth, and a fifteen-minute break after the second quarter, when teams switch baskets. NBA quarters run twelve minutes — the gap that makes an NBA game run almost a whole quarter longer on paper.
Scoring, and a three-point line closer than the NBA's
A free throw is worth one point, a field goal from inside the three-point line is worth two, and one from beyond it is worth three. The three-point line was formally added to FIBA's rules in 1984. Its distance from the basket differs from the NBA's: 6.75 metres under FIBA against 7.24 metres in the NBA — a half-metre gap that shifts where the long-range game actually happens.
Twenty-four seconds to shoot, eight to cross half-court
A team in possession has at most 24 seconds to attempt a shot — a FIBA rule since 2000, timed from the ball touching the rim rather than from a made basket. If the ball touches the rim and the attacking team recovers its own miss, the clock doesn't reset to 24; it continues from 14 seconds. Separately, a team has eight seconds to move the ball from its own half into the frontcourt, a limit FIBA cut down from the earlier ten seconds that same year.
Three seconds in the key, five seconds on a throw-in
An offensive player can't stay in the rectangular area under the opposing basket — the lane, commonly called the key — for more than three seconds while their team has live possession. The rule dates to 1936, introduced after a notoriously rough US college game played under the basket. On a throw-in from the sideline or baseline, a player has five seconds to release a pass, or possession goes to the other team. The same five seconds apply to a closely guarded ballhandler — an opponent within a metre, in an active defensive stance — before they must dribble, pass or shoot.
A fifth personal foul ends a player's game
A player who picks up five personal and/or technical fouls, or two unsportsmanlike fouls, in one game is disqualified and must leave the court, though they may remain on the bench. The NBA's threshold is a sixth foul, and not by accident: its games run 48 minutes of playing time against FIBA's 40, so the higher limit offsets the extra time. Team fouls are counted separately, by quarter: from a team's fifth foul in a quarter onward, every further foul against an opponent sends the fouled player straight to the line for two free throws, whether or not the foul happened during a shot attempt.
Travelling and double-dribbling hand over the ball, no free throw attached
Not every infraction is a foul. Travelling means moving with the ball in your hands without dribbling — it stopped being classed as a foul in 1922 and has been a violation ever since. Double-dribbling means stopping your dribble, holding the ball with both hands, then starting a new dribble. The ball can't be touched by anyone while it's on a downward path toward the basket, or inside the imaginary cylinder above the rim — a rule from 1944, extended in 1958 to cover the attacking team's own shot as well. All three carry the same penalty: possession simply passes to the other team, with no free throw, because no contact occurred.
Three officials at international games, a no-charge zone under the basket
International games are worked by three officials on court, not two — FIBA introduced the third official in 2006, after the NBA had already done so in 1988. Under each basket is a semicircle with a 1.25-metre radius where a defender can't be charged with blocking an attacking player — a FIBA rule from 2010, meant to stop defenders planting themselves right under the basket purely to draw a charging foul on a driving attacker.
The game opens with a jump ball; overtime repeats until there's a winner
A FIBA game officially starts with a jump ball — one player from each team leaping for the ball the referee tosses between them at centre court. Every later jump-ball situation, including the start of the second, third and fourth quarters, is instead decided by a possession arrow that alternates between teams rather than a fresh jump ball — a FIBA rule fixed in 2004. If the score is tied after four quarters, a five-minute overtime period is played; if the tie continues, another follows, and so on until a winner emerges. For team-foul counts, every overtime period is treated as a continuation of the fourth quarter.
Sporta MD covers football, basketball, volleyball and tennis — whether you play 5-on-5 or 3x3, you find a group through the app. The rules above are the ones any referee applies at an official match in Moldova, and knowing them also explains why an NBA game on TV plays out a little differently.