What is the difference between a winning and a losing team: insights from Euroleague basketball

Erhan Çene

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 2018, vol. 18, issue 1, 55-68

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine which game-related factors have the most influence on game outcome for basketball matches based on the 2016–2017 Euroleague season. Games are divided into three groups with cluster analysis based on final score differences. First, independent samples t-test is used to detect differences between winning and losing teams among game-related variables. Later, Bayesian Model Averaging is employed to determine key candidate variables. Finally, conditional interference classification trees are constructed for all game groups. According to classification tree results, true shooting percentage, steals and committed fouls separates winners from losers for the close games. While 2-point field goal made, 3-point field goal made, steals and defensive rebounds are crucial for the balanced games; 2-point field goal made and defensive rebounds are the most influential game statistics on the game outcome for the unbalanced games. The results from the classification trees implied that in close games, quality of the shots are more important than the quantity of shots, whereas, the inverse deduction can be made for balanced and unbalanced games. These results may show guidance to basketball coaches and players in terms of training and game preparation.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24748668.2018.1446234 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rpanxx:v:18:y:2018:i:1:p:55-68

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RPAN20

DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2018.1446234

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport is currently edited by Peter O'Donoghue

More articles in International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().