Nothing much: Joe Johnson: 44-minute game no different

Brooklyn lost 95-90 to the Boston Celtics in their shortened pre-season hit-out at the Barclays Center on Sunday.

The experimental game was reduced from 48 minutes to 44, with four 11-minute quarters.

While mandatory time-outs were cut from three to two in the second and fourth periods to further analyse game lengths.

But Johnson said it was business as usual in New York, claiming the game was the same.

"I didn't notice a difference at all," Johnson. "I think it's pretty much the same.

"If you're playing the same amount of minutes, it doesn't really matter."

Brooklyn team-mate and star point guard Deron Williams was of the same opinion afterwards.

"It's really hard to tell a minute [less] a quarter, four minutes total a game when you're on there in real time and you're not really thinking about it," he said.

"So you really can't tell anything."
Nets coach Lionel Hollins - Jason Kidd's replacement this season - said he barely noticed the change in length of quarters.

"I looked up there and we were already to the first timeout [with 6:41 left in the first quarter]," Hollins said.

"That was kind of surprising. That was the only time it seemed like it was quicker, but other than that, I didn't really notice."

Opposing coach Brad Stevens - entering his second season at the helm in Boston - said there was a slight difference, but nothing ground-breaking.

"You noticed it a little bit when you are subbing at the start of quarters, but I thought the flow with one less minute was actually a little bit better in the second and fourth," Stevens said.

"I didn't notice it other than that. When I am subbing and I'm looking at the clock and it's seven or six [minutes] on the clock, and I have to get myself back on that only five minutes has gone on if it says six on the clock. That is a little bit different, but I had it mapped out, so I kind of knew what I was going to do.

"I didn't notice it a whole lot, and I don't know how much impact it had on the game."