Statistics are everywhere in basketball. They help analyze games and players, assemble teams, and develop strategies. But what do the numbers and labels from the box score mean? What is the PER? And what is Advanced Stats all about? Learn why statistics are so valuable, especially in basketball, what they say and where boundaries lie for your bets online.
What Stats are good for in basketball
In basketball, there is usually clarity. It is almost always clear who threw towards the basket, whether the ball slips through the ring, whether it bounces and, if so, who grabs the rebound. This in turn facilitates the collection of statistics and also their comparability between players. The writing table records points, rebounds, assists, turnovers, shooting percentages and attributes them to the respective players. Statistics in basketball can provide clues for objective analyses.
For example, a big player who barely grabs rebounds seems to have to work on his use and/or positioning as well as blocking out. Poor shooting percentages can, in turn, indicate that a player should refine either his shooting in general or his shooting selection – i.e., the type of his shots –. Basketball statistics provide clues that can point in different directions. The context is therefore also crucial.
This is simplified mainly in the NBA, but also in the Euroleague and Basketball Bundesliga, through modern camera techniques that allow for even more in-depth analysis and thus a merging of the game on the court and the associated statistics. The fact that basketball takes place on a relatively small playing field and there are only ten players on the court makes the process even easier. Because this way actions can be clearly allocated.
Box scores
It is not uncommon for the best players on the planet to sit in the press conference and take a quick look at the match report sheet, especially the boxing score. Famous coaches like Steve Kerr and Svetislav Pesic repeatedly point out the importance of individual statistics, such as rebounds, for their own analysis of a game. The box score captures the most important –and traditional– statistics, allowing for a quick, initial introduction to the analysis. Box scores are collected for individual games as well as the entire season or a certain period of time. The latter allows average values and thus reflects trends.
Points
Scoring is, of course, the ultimate goal in basketball. Whoever scores more ultimately wins the game. Accordingly, the players who regularly score the most points are among the most famous faces in the sport. Not least because they often get the ball on offense to put it in the basket in different ways. Where the strengths of each player lie can be indicated by the shooting odds.
Throwing rates
The box score clearly records how many shots a player takes and how many of them he hits – both overall and from outside and inside the three-point line. Free throw quotas are also recorded. Basketball statistics compile the odds in the box score both in percent and proportionally. This shows whether a player has made many shots but has only successfully sunk a few of them in the basket.
In addition, the number of free throws serves as an indication of whether a player is going to the basket aggressively, while the three-point percentage can indicate specialists who are particularly good at hitting from the outside. A so-called 50-40-90 season is considered the holy grail in the NBA. This means that 50 percent of shots from the field find their target, plus 40 percent of three-pointers and 90 percent of free throws. This is particularly difficult because all three values are already achieved by only the best.
