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Activity and Physiological Demands During Basketball Game Play

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Basketball Sports Medicine and Science

Abstract

The existing evidence indicates that the majority of playing time in basketball is spent performing low- to moderate-intensity activities, emphasising the strong reliance on aerobic metabolism; however, anaerobic metabolic pathways also play important roles in energy provision for completing the frequent high-intensity movements in various offensive and defensive scenarios during games. On average, male and female players cover between 5 and 6 km during games lasting 40 min. However, analytical approaches differed across studies with distance data quantified during live game time in some studies and total game time in others, promoting wide variation in reported total distances covered during games (4.40–7.56 km). Frequent transitions between offence and defence, as well as repeated changes in movement intensity and direction may underpin the high physiological intensities encountered during basketball gameplay, with male and female players spending ~75% of live playing time working at heart rates (HR) ≥85% of HRmax. These high activity and physiological demands are further impacted by playing level during basketball gameplay. Specifically, average relative HR (95% vs. 91% HRmax) and the proportion of time spent working at ≥85% of HRmax (77% vs. 70%) is higher in international compared to national players. While the existing game data suggest that player demands, and therefore training strategies to prepare for competition, should be largely intermittent in nature, the precise contribution of low-, moderate- and high-intensity activity to the overall game demands is not understood yet. Inconsistencies in findings and varied methodologies across studies are major barriers for definitive conclusions to be made. The lack of direct comparisons between sexes competing at the same playing level also limits the evidence base regarding gender-specific needs during basketball training plans to optimise game readiness.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

    Zoran Milanović & Emilija Stojanović

  2. Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, Koper, Slovenia

    Zoran Milanović

  3. Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Physiology, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Emilija Stojanović

  4. Human Exercise and Training Laboratory, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia

    Aaron T. Scanlan

Authors
  1. Zoran Milanović
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  2. Emilija Stojanović
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  3. Aaron T. Scanlan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine Service, HYMC, Hadera, Israel

    Lior Laver

  2. Department of Orthopedics, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar (MAA) University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Baris Kocaoglu

  3. Midwest Orthopedics at Rush, Chicago, IL, USA

    Brian Cole

  4. The Brooklyn Nets, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Amelia J. H. Arundale

  5. Duke Sports Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Jeffrey Bytomski

  6. Duke Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Annunziato Amendola

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Milanović, Z., Stojanović, E., Scanlan, A.T. (2020). Activity and Physiological Demands During Basketball Game Play. In: Laver, L., Kocaoglu, B., Cole, B., Arundale, A.J.H., Bytomski, J., Amendola, A. (eds) Basketball Sports Medicine and Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61070-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61070-1_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-61069-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-61070-1

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