## 4 Discussion  
The aim of this study was to compare the extent of HA and HW in NBA basketball teams according to conference (East vs. West). A secondary objective was to analyze the influence of team ability on the HA and HW. Our main findings were that (i) Western teams tend to have a higher HW than Eastern ones, and there were no significant differences in HA between conferences, and that (ii) contender teams had a significantly higher HA and HW compared to teams with other team ability levels. Our data reveal that NBA teams playing at home win 61.55% of their games. This finding aligns with previous research, which reports that NBA win approximately 60% of their home matches [23]. Additionally, the previous study did not analyze differences between conferences, whereas our study revealed that in the Western Conference, the HW is higher compared to the Eastern Conference (64.5% vs. 58.5%). This aligns with findings in European basketball leagues, where regional factors such as the location of the competition influence home advantage. For example, leagues in countries with higher fan attendance and travel distance for visiting teams, like Spain and Italy, tend to show a stronger HA and HW [8]. In this regard, HW is positively impact by the stadium's capacity and public attendance to the game [24], which are usually higher in the Western conference [24]. This could explain the results of our current study, where HW is higher in West teams compared to the other conference. The HA is negatively influenced by the constant purchase and sale of basketball team franchises, where teams move location and no longer represent the spirit of the local community [25]. In addition, the sense of belonging decreases in cosmopolitan cities, which also has a negative impact on the HA [19]. Previous studies in other sports (i.e., soccer) described the influence that travel has on team performance, where jet lag has been reported to have a great negative impact over home advantage, even more than crowd support [1]. In addition, in the U.S. National Football League, travelling from the West to the East side of the country has been correlated with a greater performance by the local team, that is the East one [9]. However, our findings indicate that there are no significant differences in HA between conferences. Team ability has mainly been studied in Europe [4; 8]. In one study, the two premier Spanish basketball leagues were analyzed during 12 regular seasons (from the 2010-2011 \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Variables** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **CV** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Conference**} & East & 60.03 \(\pm\) 6.79 & 11.3\% \\  & West & 59.64 \(\pm\) 6.37 & 10.7\% \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{**Team Ability**} & Contender teams & 56.43 \(\pm\) 4.04 & 7.2\% \\  & High–medium-ability teams & 59.17 \(\pm\) 5.29 & 9.0\% \\ \cline{1-1}  & Medium–low-ability teams & 61.32 \(\pm\) 6.7 & 11.1\% \\ \cline{1-1}  & Low-ability teams & 62.65 \(\pm\) 8.4 & 13.5\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Descriptive analysis of home-court advantage (HA) according to conference and team ability. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Variables** & **Median (IQR)** & **CV** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Conference**} & East & 58.54 (21.95) & 28.2\% \\  & West & 64.56 (23.93) & 27.2\% \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{**Team Ability**} & Contender teams & 78.0 (9.76) & 8.8\% \\  & High–medium-ability teams & 65.85 (9.75) & 10.8\% \\ \cline{1-1}  & Medium–low-ability teams & 53.66 (7.32) & 12.2\% \\ \cline{1-1}  & Low-ability teams & 36.36 (12.19) & 22.4\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Descriptive analysis of home win percentage (HW) according to conference and team ability. season to the 2022-2023 season, excluding games with crowd restrictions due to the pandemic, playoffs, and pre-season games) [4].