Here are few simple questions about overtime games in the NBA:
which team played the most overtime games in the last 3 years?
which team won the most overtime games in the last 3 years?
how many overtime games happened in that span?
So simple and yet answers aren’t easily available so I’ve decided to change that!
And that’s all thanks to one comment by Greyberger after my previous post about real time duration of NBA games, data from basketball-reference.com and a very close finish in the Game 2 of NBA Finals.
BTW, today I was supposed to write “What was unique in Game 2 of NBA Finals?”… but Mavs’ comeback and final result turned out to be the most unique thing about this game so I’ve decided to skip box score tidbits.
Let’s start with some curiosities…
In 2010/11 there were 81 games with at least one overtime in regular season and 6 such games in the playoffs.
In 2009/10 there were 72 games with at least one overtime in regular season and 1 such game in the playoffs.
In 2008/09 there were 70 games with at least one overtime in regular season and 7 such games in the playoffs.
The most overtime games in the last 3 years played Chicago Bulls [whooping 26!].
The least overtime games in the last 3 years played Denver Nuggets [7 and they won 6 of them!]
If you are interested which teams had the best winning percentage of overtime games or
which teams lost more than 70% of them and many others you only have to take a look at this table:
| Team | OT Games | OT Wins | Winning% |
| Lakers | 14 | 12 | 0,857 |
| Nuggets | 7 | 6 | 0,857 |
| Mavericks | 14 | 10 | 0,714 |
| Jazz | 14 | 10 | 0,714 |
| Heat | 20 | 14 | 0,700 |
| Spurs | 15 | 10 | 0,667 |
| Nets | 17 | 11 | 0,647 |
| Magic | 14 | 9 | 0,643 |
| Bobcats | 20 | 12 | 0,600 |
| Celtics | 21 | 12 | 0,571 |
| Pistons | 18 | 10 | 0,556 |
| Hornets | 15 | 8 | 0,533 |
| Thunder | 23 | 12 | 0,522 |
| Bulls | 26 | 13 | 0,500 |
| Suns | 14 | 7 | 0,500 |
| Cavaliers | 12 | 6 | 0,500 |
| Clippers | 12 | 6 | 0,500 |
| Hawks | 10 | 5 | 0,500 |
| Bucks | 20 | 9 | 0,450 |
| Rockets | 18 | 8 | 0,444 |
| Knicks | 15 | 6 | 0,400 |
| Sixers | 18 | 7 | 0,389 |
| Raptors | 11 | 4 | 0,364 |
| Warriors | 14 | 5 | 0,357 |
| Wizards | 14 | 5 | 0,357 |
| Twolves | 10 | 3 | 0,300 |
| Grizzlies | 22 | 6 | 0,273 |
| Kings | 20 | 5 | 0,250 |
| Blazers | 16 | 4 | 0,250 |
| Pacers | 10 | 2 | 0,200 |
P.S. If you want something more specific, such as only one season of data, let me know in the comments.
Weak Side Awareness 
Anonymous
April 29, 2013 at 22:39
Do you have all Overtime games year by year by date? for exsample: 2012/2013 march 21 Lakers vs Denver…
wiLQ
April 30, 2013 at 15:21
No, I don’t because I didn’t need such list for anything but for any given season you can easily collect them from Schedule and Results at basketball-reference – http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2013_games.html
Anonymous
May 12, 2015 at 10:14
thanks for the post. Can you post only one season DATA?
Chris
May 14, 2013 at 06:41
i’d love to know if there is a greater chance of an OT game in the playoffs vs the regular season, due to being more evenly matched.
wiLQ
May 14, 2013 at 13:44
NBA games which had at least one OT [since expansion in 1989]:
in the regular season = 6.09% [out of ~27700]
in the playoffs = 6.33% [out of ~1830].
So I guess the answer is “yes, but the chance is not that much greater as theory could indicate”?
fatih can
April 29, 2015 at 16:49
hello, I would like to learn how can i get such stats for specific period of time such as NBA games which had at least one OT [since 1999-2005] to understand the tendencies of overtime games through different period of times.
wiLQ
April 30, 2015 at 18:22
You can use schedule/results from Bref.com…
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2001_games.html
Lillian
December 13, 2016 at 00:28
But her spouse, who had been helping her look, chuckled and explained,
“And That I don’t actually like mustard.
Trinidad Joe
April 15, 2018 at 21:22
I can help every team score at least one more point during the regular game therefore they won’t even have to play any overtime games or overtime games have been won by one point at least
Anonymous
October 23, 2021 at 03:47
how about win percentage for the game after an overtime game. I would expect fatigue but very interested