Well, what do I know, but a few things don't really help:
1) The double bonus. 2 guaranteed FT's with each foul, rather than 1-and-1's no matter how many fouls are committed the way it was way back when. It may not seem like much, but I imagine those extra FT's draw out the end of a game even more.
2) Full timeouts no longer cancel out the next media timeout. Someone can call timeout at 16:01 to play, come back, play 2 seconds, and then go right back to another full media timeout. Yikes.
3) I'm not sure if this has always been the case, but 5 timeouts per team for the whole game. Usually, both coaches hoard their timeouts all game long, and both teams have 3-4 timeouts remaining towards the end of the second half. So late in a close game, you end up with: Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. I would think 3 timeouts per half would be enough, and reduce the number of timeouts that inevitably are called late in a game.
But yes, game #1 cutting into game #2 on ESPN is really nothing new.
