Missed playing this game a lot, definitely been many years.
I discovered a strat in terms of letting the time go down while also keeping the ball as much as possible in the teams possession. Basically If you have a short player on your team and the opposing team has at least 1 tall player, just stand in the corner, attempt a 3 point shot, and if lucky the opposing player would typically try and block your shot sending it out of bounds. I believe a bit more time save is possible if being more consistent doing this strat.
Aside from that, timing was a bit confusing since Game Rules said one thing but Category Rules said another thing, so I went with what the Game Rules said on timing. Also thought there was other categories such as the 2 other difficulties and possibly a Season Mode category seeing as the Game Rules mentioned Season Mode.