Basketball Fatigue Impact on Kinematic Parameters and 3-Point Shooting Accuracy: Insights across Players' Positions and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Associations of High-Level Players

• Published in: Sports (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 63
• Main Authors: Bourdas, Dimitrios I, Travlos, Antonios K, Souglis, Athanasios, Gofas, Dimitrios C, Stavropoulos, Dimitrios, Bakirtzoglou, Panteleimon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.02.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; aerobic–anaerobic; Basketball; Basketball players; Blood & organ donations; Cardiorespiratory fitness; Exercise; exertion; Fatigue; Heart rate; high-intensity exercise; Influence; Kinematics; metabolism; muscle function; Observations; Physical fitness; Physiology; Greece; United Kingdom > UK; aerobic–anaerobic; ventilatory threshold; fatigue; performance; high-intensity exercise; RPE; metabolism; velocity; exertion; muscle function
• ISSN: 2075-4663; 2075-4663
• DOI: 10.3390/sports12030063

This study investigated the impact of basketball-induced fatigue on 3-point jump shooting accuracy, the ball's entry angle (EA) into the hoop, shot release time (RT), their relationship with player positions in high-level basketball, and the correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness markers and potential shooting performance changes. Guards (n = 13), forwards (n = 13), and centers (n = 12) underwent physiological assessments. Sequentially, they performed 15 jump shots (PRE), a basketball exercise simulation (BEST) involving 24 × 30 s circuit activities, and a repeated shooting test (POST). The study design was double-blind. The results revealed significant differences ( ≤ 0.05) in RT, EA, and successful shots (SSs) between PRE and POST in each group. The percentage changes from PRE to POST conditions across guards, forwards, and centers were for RT: 25.34% [95%CI: 1.7-48.98], 19.73% [95%CI: -1.9-41.36], 14.95% [95%CI: -5.23-35.13]; for EA: -3.89% [95%CI: -14.82-7.04], -3.13% [95%CI: -12.9-6.64], -3.47% [95%CI: -14.19-7.25]; and for SS: -14.42% [95%CI: -36.5-7.66], -16.76% [95%CI: -40.81-7.29], -19.44% [95%CI: -46.7-7.82], respectively. Post-test differences ( ≤ 0.05) highlighted greater fatigue impact on RT, EA, and SS from guards to centers. Additionally, significant correlations ( ≤ 0.05) were found between the ventilatory threshold, mean HR during BEST, and changes in RT, EA, and SS. This study highlights the substantial impact of basketball-induced fatigue on 3-point shooting parameters across player positions and the interplay with cardiorespiratory factors post-fatigue. Tailored training, considering heart rate, is crucial to optimizing shooting performance.