Space creation dynamics in basketball offence: validation and evaluation of elite teams

The game of basketball involves several interactions of the offensive and defensive teams (i.e., dynamics). The dynamics for defensive disruption can be organized in classes of equivalence defined herein as space creation dynamics (SCDs). The aims of this study were: a) to validate a set of SCDs classes for offensive actions and b) identify the recurrence of these classes on elite teams’ games. SCDs definition and validation followed Fonseca’s et al. (2008) criteria: 1a. proposition of a preliminary model of SCDs classes based on researchers experience and game analysis; 1b. expert improvement of the pre-defined proposal of SCDs; 1c. intra-observer and inter-observers reliability; 1d. application of the SCDs: analysis on elite basketball games. Resultant classes of SCDs (steps 1a-b): Space creation with ball dribbled (BD); Space creation with ball not dribbled (BND); Post Isolation (PostI); Perimeter Isolation (PerI); Space creation without the ball (WB); On ball screen (OnBS); Out-of-ball screen (OutBS). Reliability (1c): Kappa test intra-observer and inter-observer reliability range from (0.76 -0.85) to (0.73-0.86), respectively. Inter-judges reliability indicates the usefulness of these classes for game analyses. (1d): “OnBS” presented the highest frequency of occurrence among elite teams (34.8%) indicating the relevance of pick and roll for teams’ strategy.