In honor of the start of the NBA Finals, it is interesting to share some novel research focused on professional basketball players. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA had to pause its schedule mid-season in March 2020. About 5 months later, the league’s top 22 teams met in Orlando, Florida forming a COVID-19 free “NBA bubble” to finish the season. Researchers interested in the “home-court advantage” saw this as a unique opportunity. Considering teams would not have to travel and there would be no fans, the NBA bubble provided a perfect situation to study the effects of travel and home-court advantage. Before the NBA bubble, teams that had to travel across time zones displayed a decrease in winning percentage, team shooting accuracy, and offensive rebounding, along with an increase in their opponent’s points per game. Observing performance in the NBA bubble, however, showed no impact – in other words, when no team has to travel and there are no fans present, the home or away designation has no impact on performance. Interested in learning more? Read the research for yourself here!

While we aren’t all NBA players, we can all benefit from exercise and physical activity. With times beginning to return to normal, gyms are opening and exercise facilities are once again becoming available… now’s a great time to get active! The PAAD2 study at UNCG is recruiting currently non-active individuals to help explore the relationship between physical activity and Alzheimer’s disease – click here to see if you’re eligible to participate!