Game related statistics discriminating between starters and nonstarters players in Women’s National Basketball Association League (WNBA)

The aim of the present study was to identify the game-relatedstatistics that allow discriminating between starters and nonstarterplayers in women’s basketball when related to winning orlosing games and best or worst teams. the sample comprised all216 regular season games from the 2005 women’s nationalbasketball association league (wnba). the game-relatedstatistics included were 2- and 3-point field-goals (both successfuland unsuccessful), free-throws (both successful and unsuccessful),defensive and offensive rebounds, assists, blocks, fouls,steals, turnovers and minutes played. results from multivariateanalysis showed that when best teams won, the discriminantgame-related statistics were successful 2-point field-goals (sc =0.47), successful free-throws (sc = 0.44), fouls (sc = -0.41),assists (sc = 0.37), and defensive rebounds (sc = 0.37). whenthe worst teams won, the discriminant game-related statisticswere successful 2-point field-goals (sc = 0.37), successful freethrows(sc = 0.45), assists (sc = 0.58), and steals (sc = 0.35).the results showed that the successful 2-point field-goals, successfulfree-throws and the assists were the most powerful variablesdiscriminating between starters and nonstarters. thesespecific characteristics helped to point out the importance ofstarters’ players shooting and passing ability during competitions.