Evaluation of Differentiating Attacking and Defensive Performance for Various Playing Positions during the Tokyo...

The purpose of this study was to differentiate the attack-defense performance at various playing positions between the top and bottom teams during the Tokyo Olympics men's basketball competition, and to determine the relationship between the attack-defense performance of various positions and the final competition rankings. The rank-sum ratio (RSR) was employed to describe the attack-defense abilities of a total of 144 male players from 12 participating teams, which were divided into three groups according to their playing positions, namely centers (n = 27), forwards (n = 58), and guards (n = 59). Additionally, the independent sample t-test and Spearman Rho Correlation analyses were conducted to evaluate the differences and relationships among the various variables, respectively, at a 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that there were significant differences in points (p = 0.003), the 2-point field goal made percentage (p = 0.035), and defensive rebounds (p = 0.004) at the guard position, and assists (p = 0.047) at the forward position between the top four and the bottom four teams. The attack-defense ranks of the guard position presented high positive correlations (p = 0.000, r = 0.876) with the final competition rankings, while the center (p = 0.017, r = 0.669) and forward positions (p = 0.036, r = 0.608) showed moderate positive correlations. These results may be considered by coaches and players to include targeted training to improve the overall strength of the team.