NBA playoff format is optimizing competitive balance by eliminating
travel

Date:
August 26, 2020
Source:
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Summary:
In addition to helping protect players from COVID-19, the NBA
'bubble' in Orlando may be a competitive equalizer by eliminating
team travel.

Researchers analyzing the results of nearly 500 NBA playoff games
over six seasons found that a team's direction of travel and the
number of time zones crossed were associated with its predicted
win probability and actual game performance.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In addition to helping protect players from COVID-19, the NBA
"bubble" in Orlando may be a competitive equalizer by eliminating team
travel. Researchers analyzing the results of nearly 500 NBA playoff games
over six seasons found that a team's direction of travel and the number
of time zones crossed were associated with its predicted win probability
and actual game performance.


========================================================================== Preliminary results of the study suggest that the 2020 NBA playoffs, which begin Aug. 17, will eliminate any advantages or disadvantages related to
long- distance travel. In this year's unique playoff format, implemented
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all 16 teams will stay in Orlando, Florida,
and compete at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World.

The study found that scoring was significantly higher following eastward travel. Although there were no differences in actual game outcomes based
on overall direction of travel, there were differences when considering
both the direction and magnitude of travel. Teams that traveled east
with three-hour time zone changes had higher predicted probabilities of
winning than teams that traveled west or played in the same time zone. In contrast, teams that traveled west across three time zones had lower
predicted win probabilities than teams that traveled east or played in
the same time zone.

"During this initial study, it was interesting to find that team
scoring improved during general eastward travel compared to westward
travel and travel in the same zone, but game outcomes were unaffected by direction of travel during the playoffs," said lead author Sean Pradhan, assistant professor of sports management and business analytics in
the School of Business Administration at Menlo College in Atherton,
California. "However, when considering the magnitude of travel across
different time zones, we found that teams had predicted probabilities
of winning that were lower after traveling three time zones westward,
and tended to actually lose more games when traveling two time zones
westward compared to most other types of travel." Circadian rhythms
are endogenous, near-24-hour biological rhythms that exist in all
living organisms, and these daily rhythms have peaks and troughs in both alertness and sleepiness that can impact individuals in high-performance professions. Therefore, an athlete has a greater opportunity for optimal performance when the timing of an activity is synchronized with the
body's circadian clock.

Researchers from Menlo College and other collaborators reviewed data from
499 NBA playoff games from the 2013-2014 through 2018-2019 seasons. They
looked at the impact of direction of travel and time zones traveled on
actual game outcomes, team quality, predicted win probability, and team
scoring for visiting teams.

"A great deal of prior work has examined the effects of travel and
circadian advantages on team performance during the regular season of
various professional sports leagues," said Pradhan. "The current study
extends such findings of previous research by examining team performance
in the NBA playoffs, which is obviously an extremely crucial time for
teams competing."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
American_Academy_of_Sleep_Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. E E Flynn-Evans, R Chachad, D Alton, K Gregory, S Pradhan. 0174
Examining
Circadian Disadvantages in the National Basketball Association's
Playoffs. Sleep, 2020; 43 (Supplement_1): A69 DOI: 10.1093/sleep/
zsaa056.172 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200826101637.htm

--- up 2 days, 6 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)