The Effectiveness οf Control Offense, Following an Outside Game in European Championships

Abstract

Basketball is a constantly developing sport whose tactics always seek new options. The outside game is part of the control offense and is based on shots performed from medium or far range. The aim of the current study was to record the coordinated movements before the final effort, as well as the effectiveness of the offenses after the outside game, in European basketball. The sample of the study consisted of 80- videotaped games from the 2003, 2005 and 2007 tournaments. The variables measured were the tactics in offense and defense, the ways of co-operation in offense, the offense player and the effectiveness of the attempted offenses. For the game analysis, the program used was the Η/Υ SportScoutSTA. The program used for the statistical analysis of the data was the non-parametric test x2 distribution. The results revealed that: 8 out of 10 of the realized offenses led up to a control offense 5 to 5, while the outside game was dominant, taking up 65% of the executed offenses. In addition, 4 out of 10 outside game offenses were realized with a screen, while 6 out of 10 without a screen. The teams had higher two and three point shots when performing after a screen. The most popular way of co-operation with a screen was pick and roll, while the most frequent kind of offense without a screen was the 1 to 1. Although the offenses were organized far from the basket, the centres had higher values on the statistical indexes than the rest of the players. The basketball coaches have the chance, through the results of the current study, to get information concerning the determination of their team tactics, taking into account the abilities of the players they have in their teams.