Temporal logic of free throwing in the Spanish A.C.B. basketball competition

Abstract

Based on play-by-play data from nine full seasons of ACB basket league (2929 games, 119338 efforts) the fundamental statistical properties of free throwing are described taking into account several time factors of the internal logic of the game (i.e. season periods and playing time of the match, the value of the different scoring interactions, score). FIn addition, and for the first time, it is possible to identify the sets of free shots taken by a player every time he goes to the line. The main conclusions were: the competence in free throwing seems stable along the season; free throwing performance depends on the success at the first shot of the series; some of the statistical effects seem practically too counterintuitive, what must make us reflect about the links between scientists’ decisions and the coaches’ decisions.