Modelling Home Advantage in Basketball at Different Levels of Competition

The aim of this study was to find out if there were any differences between the home and road basketball teams that played in three different levels of competition, in nineteen standard and derived statistical indicators of situational efficiency. The home and road teams from NLB-Adriatic league, Euroleague–regular season and Euroleague-Top 16 were analysed. Three discriminant analyses have been conducted in order to track down possible differences between the home and road teams in game stats. Obtained results show the differences in game related statistics between the home and road teams from NLB and Euroleague (regular season) competition. Home teams are characterised by higher number of assists, steals, points and points scored by the starting five, while the road teams have more turnovers. This points to aggressive defensive and offensive tactics of the home teams. There were no statistically significant differences between the home and road teams played in Euroleague-Top 16. As the quality of competition becomes stronger, the advantage of home court becomes less dominant. In other words, when the quality of teams is pretty equal, home advantage is low and does not have a dominant and crucial role in winning games.