Slowly

Question

A commentator says this about a team who is losing during a basketball game and not a lot of time is left.

Time is slowly against them.

Is it natural to use slowly like that? I know what he is trying to say. He's trying to say that they can still win the game but the window of opportunity is slowly closing.

Is it natural to say slowly closing?
The window of opportunity is slowly closing.

Thanks

Deadrat · Accepted Answer

For both teams, time moves into the future at 60 seconds per minute, so "slowly" is inapt here. In fact, for the losing team, there might not be enough time to score, so the clock might seem to them to speed up to close off the opportunity to win.

But things can close slowly.

Anonymous · Answer

Could you just say : The clock is against the team.

is it correct to say : The window of opportunity is slowly closing.

You wrote : There might not be enough time to score, so the clock might seem to them to speed up to close off the opportunity to win.

is is it correct to just say "close" instead of "close off"?

Would this be correct: There might not be enough time to score, so the clock might seem to them to be speeding up to close off the opportunity to win.

Thank you

Deadrat · Answer

I think "The clock is against the team" is an excellent metaphor. The clock is actually neutral since it ticks the same for both sides, but for the losing team it records their dwindling opportunity to win.

It is grammatically correct to say "The window of opportunity is slowly closing."

"Close" means to shut; "close off" means to exclude from. So you can't say "close"

Your last "There might not be enough time to score..." makes sense since everyone has had the sensation of time running out near a deadline. Since there isn't enough time, you feel it fleeing from you.

Slowly

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