# Profile of Accelerations and Decelerations in Young Basketball Players
## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline
**Acceleration** & **Distance** & **Start Speed** & **Final Speed** \\ \hline Max ACC (m\(\cdot\)s\({}^{-2}\)) & 0.554 * & \(-\)0.017 & 0.719 * \\ Distance (m) & & 0.254 * & 0.869 * \\ Start speed (km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\)) & & & 0.483 * \\ \hline
**Deceleration** & **Distance** & **Start Speed** & **Final Speed** \\ \hline Max DEC (m\(\cdot\)s\({}^{-2}\)) & \(-\)0.451 * & \(-\)0.688 * & 0.025 \\ Distance (m) & & 0.840 * & 0.245 * \\ Start speed (km\(\cdot\)h\({}^{-1}\)) & & & 0.475 * \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Max ACC = maximum acceleration; Max DEC = maximum deceleration * = statistical correlation (\(p<0.05\)).  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Correlation matrix. the start of the game, play was more continuous, with a greater number of ACC and DEC recorded. Play during the last quarter slowed down, increasing in time due to the increased number of timeouts that could be requested and fools produced by fatigue [48; 49]. In addition, these results must be taken with caution, since the physical demands of the game are influenced by contextual game variables, such as the scoreboard, strategy, and pace of play [23]. The number of accelerations and decelerations by specific playing positions maintains the same trend as with all players overall, with many low-intensity accelerations (between 87.6 and 89.3), few moderate-intensity accelerations (between 0.4 and 0.8), and few high-intensity accelerations (between 8.6 and 12.6). The thresholds for acceleration and deceleration decreased over the four quarters of the game, indicating that the intensity of these actions decreased as the game progressed [13; 45]. Centers are the players who perform the most low-intensity actions, while Guards have the highest high-intensity demands. These results are confirmed by the qualitative analysis of ACC and DEC, as it has been identified that Guards and Forwards cover more distance, start implementing this acceleration at a higher initial speed, and end at a higher final speed than Centers. These differences are only identified in Moderate DEC between Guards and Centers, with Guards initiating braking at a higher speed. The general decrease in distance covered, and number of high-intensity accelerations and decelerations between the first and last quarter of games in all playing positions in the Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament, have also been identified by [26]. These results are consistent with the known movement patterns and physiological demands of different positional roles in basketball [51; 52]. Guards tend to cover more distance running and making high-intensity efforts, while Centers operate closer to the rim and rely more on jumping ability [7; 53]. [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [14] also identified that Guards performed more high-speed runs than Forwards and Centers during collegiate basketball games. The higher volume of high-intensity accelerations and decelerations performed by point Guards and Forwards exerts substantial stress on their musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems. This fact should be considered by coaches to personalize their preparation. To do this, at the beginning of the training session they must perform the most intense tasks, adapting them to the playing positions. Furthermore, since point Guards and Forwards have similar demands, they will be able to perform similar tasks, differentiated from Centers. In the characterization of the accelerometry profile by playing positions, it has been identified that Guards and Forwards also showed significant differences compared to Centers in key variables of the acceleration profile, including greater distance covered and higher initial and final speeds during accelerations above 4 m\(\cdot\)s\({}^{-2}\). Statistically significant differences have only been identified in moderate-intensity accelerations (>2-4 m\(\cdot\)s\({}^{-2}\)) in the starting speed between Guards and Centers.