Game-Related Statistics Which Discriminate Between Winning and Losing Teams in Asian and European Men’s Basketball Championships

Background Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world. However, men’s national teams of Asian countries have not performed well at world-level competitions such as Olympic and world cup games. Clarifying the feature of Asian basketball games would be some help to improve the competitiveness of Asian teams. Objectives This study aimed to identify game-related statistics which discriminate between winning and losing teams in Asian men’s basketball competitions. In addition, European competitions were also analyzed and the results were compared between Asian and European competitions. Methods A total of 179 games from the 2011, 2013 and 2015 FIBA Asia Championships were analyzed for Asian competitions, and a total of 259 games from the 2011, 2013 and 2015 FIBA EuroBasket were analyzed for European competitions. All games were classified into three types (balanced, unbalanced and very unbalanced) according to point differential. A discriminant analysis was performed to identify game-related statistics which discriminate between winning and losing teams. Results In European competitions, 76% of the games were classified into balanced games and none of the games was classified into very unbalanced games. In Asian competitions, on the other hand, only 48% of the games were classified into balanced games and 15% of the games were classified into very unbalanced games. In balanced games, defensive rebounds and assists discriminated between winning and losing teams in Asian competitions whereas defensive rebounds did so in European competitions. In unbalanced games, successful 2-point field goals, defensive rebounds and assists discriminated between winning and losing teams in both Asian and European competitions. Conclusions Asian competitions had higher proportions of unbalanced and very unbalanced games than European competitions. However, a discriminant analysis, which was performed independently for each type of game, showed similar results between Asian and European competitions. The only difference was observed in balanced games’ assists which discriminated between winning and losing teams in Asian competitions but not in European competitions.