Explanations for the United States of America's dominance in basketball at the Beijing Olympic Games (2008)

• Published in: Journal of sports sciences 2010-01, Vol.28 (2), p.147-152
• Main Authors: Sampaio, Jaime, Lago, Carlos, Drinkwater, Eric J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basketball; Biological and medical sciences; Cluster analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; match analysis; Olympic games-2008; Statistics; Studies; team sports; Vertebrates: body movement. Posture. Locomotion. Flight. Swimming. Physical exercise. Rest. Sports
• ISSN: 0264-0414; 1466-447X
• DOI: 10.1080/02640410903380486

Anecdotally, the fast pace at which the USA men's basketball team played at the 2008 Olympics was the main reason for their dominance, although there is no way of quantifying what a fast pace is or how it contributed to point differentials. The aim of this study was to examine the game-related statistics that discriminate between fast- and slow-paced games, as well as to identify key performance factors relating to point differentials. We analysed game-related statistics for each quarter of the eight games played by the USA using a k-means cluster analysis to classify game pace using ball possessions per game quarter. We then tested for differences in game statistics between slow- and fast-paced game quarters using analysis of variance and discriminant analysis. How differences in game-related statistics affected point differentials was examined using linear regression. The largest structure coefficient between game paces for the USA was for recovered balls (0.33, P