Is it enough to use the traditional approach based on average values for basketball physical performance analysis?

Abstract

Understanding the most demanding scenarios of basketball match-play can optimise training prescription. We established physical demand differences in total distance covered, distance covered at high-speed running, distance covered at highintensity accelerations and decelerations, number of high-speed running actions and number of high-intensity accelerations comparing the traditional average method with the most demanding scenarios based on 1-minute rolling averages. Physical demand parameters were analysed from 21 elite basketball players according to playing position during a friendly game via local positioning system microtechnology. The results showed that players covered a total distance of 141.3 m•min −1 (p < 0.001; ES = 7.80) and 25.4 m•min −1 (p < 0.001; ES = 4.52) at high-speed running using rolling averages, compared to 66.3 and 3.2 m min −1 , respectively, using the traditional average approach. These data represent a very large increase of 113.1% for total distance per minute and 686.4% for high-speed running distance per minute, 252% for the number of high-intensity accelerations and 290.5% for the number of high-intensity decelerations, respectively, demonstrating the relevance of this novel approach. In conclusion, this investigation indicated that the traditional average method underestimates peak physical demands over a 1-minute period during a basketball game. Thus, the average approach should be complemented by analysing the most demanding scenarios in order to have a better understanding of physical demands during basketball competition.

Differences in the Most Demanding Scenarios of Basketball Match-Play between Game Quarters and Playing Positions in Professional Players

“…Given this variability in activity duration and playing time, assessing intensity in basketball is necessary when monitoring external load as it is less dependent on duration than measures capturing total load (volume). However, quantifying only average intensity across total games fails to detect passages of higher physical demands known as most demanding scenarios (MDS) (Vázquez-Guerrero & Garcia, 2020). Recent research in basketball demonstrated that when assessing the MDS during different time windows, players are exposed to intensities much greater than the intensities previously reported using game averages Several studies have assessed the physical demands encountered by basketball players across entire games (Russell et al, 2020).…”

Higher Playing Times Accumulated Across Entire Games and Prior to Intense Passages Reduce the Peak Demands Reached by Elite, Junior, Male Basketball Players

“…These findings reinforce the importance of considering specific PD variables for different functions due to the specific insight they each provide. In addition, given that the external PD attained by basketball players is impacted by various factors including schedule congestion (Edwards et al, 2018), player position (Alonso et al, 2020; Vázquez-Guerrero & Garcia, 2020), and game score-line (Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2020), the impact of individualized playing time should be considered in tandem with these other factors. Another notable finding in our study was the high CV% across PD variables suggesting wide variability in the data obtained across players.…”

“…In turn, the peak demand (PD), defined as the most intense activity experienced by players for a selected variable across a specified timeframe of interest (Alonso et al, 2020), has been quantified in basketball players using many external variables (e.g., PlayerLoad, distance, accelerations, and decelerations) and time windows (e.g. 30 s, 45 s, 1 min, 5 min, and 10 min) (Alonso et al, 2020; Fox, Conte, et al, 2020; Fox, Salazar, et al, 2020; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2020; Vázquez-Guerrero & Garcia, 2020). In this regard, the impact of different factors on the PD attained by players during basketball games has been explored, including the effects of player position (Alonso et al, 2020; Fox, Conte, et al, 2020), game score-line (Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2020), and game schedule (Pino-Ortega et al, 2019).…”

The most demanding scenarios of 5-on-5 modified scrimmage situations in elite basketball

“…To the best of the authors´ knowledge, only Vazquez-Guerrero et al 14 have described the most demanding scenarios (in terms of physical demands) during basketball match-play from professional male players. These authors used the same ROLLING approach and locomotive measures that in the current study and hence, direct comparisons with the physical demands found for the training drills in the current study can be made.…”

“…This novel approach takes the most relevant (in terms of sport performance) physical demand measures, after having examined the data second by second, and using all of this data to determine rolling average time duration or epochs (e.g., 0-3, 1-4, 2-5 min). This new rolling average time epoch approach (ROLLING) has been recently used to describe the most demanding scenarios of competitive basketball match-play, showing that the activity profile described is much more demanding than that reported in previous studies where traditional average measures have been employed 4,12,14 . The use of this novel ROLLING approach to quantify the most demanding scenarios of the most frequently used basketball drills (such as 5-on-5 scrimmage situations) may provide a more comprehensive estimation of the external workload imposed on players 15 .…”