Game analysis in basketball: offensive profile of the Brazilian Male National team

Abstract

Game analysis in basketball (and in any team sport) is a very important resource to coaches and athletes to understand the dynamic of the game and to set better strategies to develop individual and collective performance. The purpose of this study, done with Brazilian National team during the World Championship (2002) in United States of America, was to quantify the number of set offenses and fast breaks and relate the kind of offenses to some game indicators as ball possessions, points (possible and made), lost balls and field goals efficiency. Data were collected through the observation of six games (3 victories and 3 defeats). In these six games, the results showed that set offenses represented 85.8% of the ball possessions, while fast breaks represented 14.2% of the possessions. Brazil made 386 points (82.7%) after set offenses and 81 points after fast breaks (17.3%). In fast breaks the efficiency was about 63.3%, while in set offenses it was 45.5%. It was found that in defeats the team made 20.3 points/game less than in victories (88.0-66.7). Concerning to overall efficiency in field goals Brazil (47.6%) was bellow the average of better classified teams (about 50%). Another result that is important to highlight is the average of lost balls: in victories Brazil had an average of 11.0/game and in defeats this average was 17.7/game. This is a very significant fact because when you lose a ball possession you can't finish the offense and give the opponent the chance to score.