Sleepy Spurs?
This was a very interesting article I came across last month as I am a now big Phoenix Suns fan in that sleep may have affected the San Antonio Spurs' play during West Coast games.
The news reporter, Wendy Rigby, gave the scores of the San Antonio Spurs match up and made a prediction for game 6 against the Sacramento Kings:
However, I have some serious problems with these findings. First you are not comparing apples to apples when you think that these two teams are equal, and the ONLY factor is one of playing in a different time zone.
I don't care where you are, Tim Duncan is Tim Duncan, and depending upon who he is matched up with, that is more likely to be the ball game.*
Another important factor would be how much rest the team had after arriving at the destination. Remember it only take most people 1 day per time zone to acclimate.
Finally, as with the NFL study, we know that many players, based on their body types can have other sleep disorders which can affect their play (e.g., sleep apnea) so again I think that this work represents an interesting statistic, but there is a reason why the last studies like this were done in 1997.
*In fact, that was the case -- Tim Duncan scored 15 points and the Spurs won by 22, advancing to the next round
Related Topics: Sleeping Tips for When You Travel, How Sleep, or Lack of, Affects Teen Athletes
Technorati Tags: Tim Duncan, sleep apnea, NBA
The news reporter, Wendy Rigby, gave the scores of the San Antonio Spurs match up and made a prediction for game 6 against the Sacramento Kings:
"For Game 6, the Spurs won't have a home-court advantage, and a scientific study shows they may actually be at a four-point disadvantage when they hit the court."In a 1997 article "Effect of Travel and Rest on Performance of Professional Basketball Players" of the journal "Sleep", the researchers discussed the idea that the biological clock of NBA players may be so affected by traveling time zones that their play may suffer. Looking at the same type of thing in NFL players the Journal Sleep also talked about the time zone changes and agreed with the above study.
However, I have some serious problems with these findings. First you are not comparing apples to apples when you think that these two teams are equal, and the ONLY factor is one of playing in a different time zone.
I don't care where you are, Tim Duncan is Tim Duncan, and depending upon who he is matched up with, that is more likely to be the ball game.*
Another important factor would be how much rest the team had after arriving at the destination. Remember it only take most people 1 day per time zone to acclimate.
Finally, as with the NFL study, we know that many players, based on their body types can have other sleep disorders which can affect their play (e.g., sleep apnea) so again I think that this work represents an interesting statistic, but there is a reason why the last studies like this were done in 1997.
*In fact, that was the case -- Tim Duncan scored 15 points and the Spurs won by 22, advancing to the next round
Related Topics: Sleeping Tips for When You Travel, How Sleep, or Lack of, Affects Teen Athletes
Technorati Tags: Tim Duncan, sleep apnea, NBA
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