Is there a home choke in decisive playoff basketball games?

John M. Tauer; Corey L. Guenther; Christopher Rozek

doi:10.1080/10413200902795331

Is there a home choke in decisive playoff basketball games?

John M. Tauer, Corey L. Guenther, Christopher Rozek

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous studies (Baumeister & Steinhilber, 1984; Schlenker, Phillips, Boniecki, & Schlenker (1995a) have found conflicting results regarding whether home teams have an advantage or not in athletic performance. We conducted two studies to explore the effects of basketball teams playing at home in playoff competition. We archived more than fifty years of National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff data, extending previous research to include a longer range of time and broader sample of NBA playoff games. We also extended previous studies by archiving a unique sample of college playoff basketball competition. Results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and applied implications. In sum, we found virtually no evidence of a home choke and strong evidence in favor of a home court advantage.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	148-162
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
Volume	21
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200902795331
State	Published - Apr 2009

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10.1080/10413200902795331

Cite this

@article{15ddaab464d14ac08416e15f0beaff3c,

title = "Is there a home choke in decisive playoff basketball games?",

abstract = "Previous studies (Baumeister & Steinhilber, 1984; Schlenker, Phillips, Boniecki, & Schlenker (1995a) have found conflicting results regarding whether home teams have an advantage or not in athletic performance. We conducted two studies to explore the effects of basketball teams playing at home in playoff competition. We archived more than fifty years of National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff data, extending previous research to include a longer range of time and broader sample of NBA playoff games. We also extended previous studies by archiving a unique sample of college playoff basketball competition. Results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and applied implications. In sum, we found virtually no evidence of a home choke and strong evidence in favor of a home court advantage.",

author = "Tauer, {John M.} and Guenther, {Corey L.} and Christopher Rozek",

year = "2009",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1080/10413200902795331",

language = "English",

volume = "21",

pages = "148--162",

journal = "Journal of Applied Sport Psychology",