## 4 Discussion  
This descriptive and comparative study aimed to compare the physical demands of U-18 players who participated in back-to-back basketball games and to detect possible differences among players who played either one or two games during the competitive weekend. The primary finding of this study was that RD decreased (\(p\) = 0.03) from the first game to the second in back-to-back games. Nevertheless, the other seven variables examined did not show significant differences. Furthermore, ACC presented a significant difference (\(p\) = 0.01) among players who only participated in one game during the weekend. Lastly, the Hooper index showed significantly increased values (worse well-being) before the first game compared to the second consecutive game (\(p\) = 0.04). This increase could indicate that those players perceived higher emotional stress before Saturday's game. These results are crucial for maximizing the chances of victory, since winning teams have \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Outcome** & **Day** & **Estimate** & **SE** & **df** & **95\% CI** & **\#** & **\(p\) Value** & **Cohen’s d** \\ \hline RD & Sat & \(-\)0.4 & 3.5 & 11.4 & \(-\)8.1 & 7.4 & \(-\)0.1 & 0.92 & \(-\)0.06, trivial \\ (m\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & \(-\)5.6 & 2.4 & 29 & \(-\)10.5 & \(-\)0.6 & \(-\)2.29 & 0.06 & \(-\)0.85, moderate \\ \hline RD-PD & Sat & \(-\)9.4 & 8.3 & 11.4 & \(-\)27.7 & 8.8 & \(-\)1.13 & 0.56 & \(-\)0.67, moderate \\ (m\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & 0.3 & 5.9 & 9.2 & \(-\)12.9 & 13.5 & 0.05 & 0.96 & 0.03, trivial \\ \hline HSR & Sat & \(-\)0.3 & 0.5 & 23.6 & \(-\)1.3 & 0.8 & \(-\)0.51 & 0.61 & \(-\)0.21, small \\ (m\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & \(-\)0.7 & 0.4 & 51.7 & \(-\)1.5 & 0.1 & \(-\)1.69 & 0.19 & \(-\)0.47, small \\ \hline HSR-PD & Sat & 1.7 & 2.8 & 16.2 & \(-\)4.2 & 7.5 & 0.6 & 1 & 0.30, small \\ (m\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & 0.3 & 2.2 & 13.8 & \(-\)4.4 & 5 & 0.13 & 1 & 0.07, trivial \\ \hline ACC & Sat & \(-\)0.4 & 0.3 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)1.0 & 0.2 & \(-\)1.25 & 0.43 & NA \\ (n\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & \(-\)0.2 & 0.2 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)0.5 & 0.2 & \(-\)0.82 & 0.43 & NA \\ \hline ACC-PD & Sat & \(-\)0.6 & 1.1 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)2.7 & 1.5 & \(-\)0.58 & 1 & NA \\ (n\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & 0.03 & 0.7 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)1.3 & 1.4 & 0.04 & 1 & NA \\ \hline DEC & Sat & \(-\)0.2 & 0.3 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)0.7 & 0.3 & \(-\)0.79 & 0.43 & NA \\ (n\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & \(-\)0.3 & 0.2 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)0.7 & 0.0 & \(-\)1.72 & 0.17 & NA \\ \hline DEC-PD & Sat & \(-\)1.2 & 1.0 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)3.1 & 0.8 & \(-\)1.19 & 0.47 & NA \\ (n\(\cdot\)min\({}^{-1}\)) & Sun & \(-\)0.1 & 0.7 & \(\infty\) & \(-\)1.5 & 1.3 & \(-\)0.16 & 0.88 & NA \\ \hline Wellness & Sat & \(-\)1.2 & 1.4 & 16.5 & \(-\)4.1 & 1.7 & \(-\)0.86 & 0.4 & \(-\)0.42, small \\ (arb. U.) & Sun & 1.6 & 0.8 & 11.4 & \(-\)0.2 & 3.4 & 1.98 & 0.14 & 1.17, moderate \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Notes: Negative values mean players competing in 2 games have lower values than players competing in 1 game. \# for ACC and DEC represents the z-value instead of the \(t\)-value. ACC: maximal accelerations; DEC: maximal accelerations; HSR: high-speed running; PD: peak demands; RD: relative distance; Sat: Saturday; Sun: Sunday. arb. U.: arbitrary units. 95% CI: confidence interval; df: degrees of freedom; SE: standard error; NA: not applicable.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Comparisons between players playing 1 vs. 2 games in Saturday or Sunday games (back-to-back).