Basketball possession: A systematic review

Abstract

As the understanding of the concept of basketball possession continues to deepen, research related to basketball possession has been receiving increasing attention in the field of basketball performance analysis. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive review articles that systematically summarize existing studies on basketball possession, which is essential for structured development and effective academic exchange. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a systematic review to provide a thorough overview and synthesis of the field. Relevant articles from all the time were retrieved and screened from three authoritative academic databases using term basketball possession (n = 19), followed by a quality assessment of the selected studies. Thematic analysis was then applied to categorize the literature into four key themes: (1) Last Moment Analysis, (2) Possession-Based Models for Simulating Matches, Predicting Outcomes, and Identifying Match Patterns, (3) Key Factors Affecting Possession Performance, and (4) Individual Possession Performance. Within each theme, prominent features were identified to offer insights and implications for future research. More specifically, the potentially valuable future research directions revealed in this study include: cross-national league comparisons, diversification of athlete sample types, exploration of tracking data applications, automated analysis of possession events, and deeper investigation into individual player possession performance. This review can help coaches develop strategic thinking from a possession-based perspective and provide valuable directions for further studies in basketball performance analysis.