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Analysis of institutional authors

Zhang SCorresponding AuthorLorenzo AAuthorGomez MAuthor

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May 22, 2019
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Evolution of game-play characteristics within-season for the National Basketball Association

Publicated to:International Journal Of Sports Science & Coaching. 14 (3): 355-362 - 2019-06-01 14(3), DOI: 10.1177/1747954119847171

Authors: Zhang, Shaoliang; Lorenzo, Alberto; Woods, Carl T; Leicht, Anthony S; Gomez, Miguel-Angel

Affiliations

Football Department - Author
James Cook Univ, Sport & Exercise Sci, Townsville, Qld, Australia - Author
JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA - Author
Port Adelaide Football Club, Football Dept, Adelaide, SA, Australia - Author
Tsinghua Univ, Div Sports Sci & Phys Educ, Beijing, Peoples R China - Author
Tsinghua University - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Fac Phys Act & Sport Sci INEF, Madrid, Spain - Author
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Author
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Abstract

© The Author(s) 2019. The aim of this study was to explore the (dis)similarity of game-play characteristics throughout an in-season period within the National Basketball Association. Thirteen performance-related indicators of all 1230 games of the regular 2016–2017 season in the National Basketball Association were analysed. Non-metric multidimensional scaling was used to examine (dis)similarity of team profiles. The two-dimensional multivariate matrix showed that team profiles generally presented similarity, while the beginning and ending of the season (October and April) showed relative dissimilarity. Although each team presented unique paths throughout the in-season period, the dominant teams in the National Basketball Association presented similar game styles. In addition, the game-play of the teams evolved into effective interactions in terms of offence and defence as the competition progressed while presenting an increased trend in the number of three-point field-goals made (p < 0.000, small effect size (η 2 ) = 0.011) throughout the in-season period. The analytics performed in this study could be used practically to evaluate temporal changes of game-play characteristics in basketball as well as inform strategic periodization plans within season periods.

Keywords

Basketball analyticsData visualisationDiscriminateMultivariate analysisNbaPerformance analysisPhysical performanceProfilesStatisticsTeamTeam sportsTimeTournament

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal International Journal Of Sports Science & Coaching due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Social Sciences (Miscellaneous). Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q4 for the agency WoS (JCR) in the category Psychology, Applied.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations from Scopus Elsevier, it yields a value for the Field-Weighted Citation Impact from the Scopus agency: 1.31, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-10-09, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 17
  • Scopus: 16

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-10-09:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 53.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 53 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.85.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 4 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Australia; China.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (ZHANG, SONGPENG) and Last Author (GOMEZ RUANO, MIGUEL ANGEL).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been ZHANG, SONGPENG.