Match analysis in wheelchair basketball: An observational analysis of the best team in the world (USA) in the 2020 Paralympic Games

Abstract

This work shows the possibilities that observational analysis can offer to match analysis in Wheelchair Basketball, outlined in a study of the sequences that end in a shot, in the men's team considered to be the best in the world (USA), in the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020. Data recording and coding the 527 sequences that end in a shot was carried out via the LINCE software, and inter-rater reliability guaranteed using Cohen's Kappa coefficient. Two diachronic behaviour analysis techniques – lag sequential analysis and T-pattern detection – were applied complementarily, thus allowing us to characterise effective and ineffective sequences. Effective behaviours are highlighted as being those which incorporate a final reception and shot by players with less functional limitation; or those in which the shot is made from the paint. Ineffective behaviours are those carried out by players with greater functional difficulty; or those which end in shots made from the offensive zone and external offensive zone.