The NBA Finals are in full swing, which means the chance a game will be won or lost based on the performance of free throw shooters under some of the most intense pressure of their entire careers. With this much pressure, it’s easy to lose focus and choke for a variety of reasons. With “ice cold” stars like Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard on the floor, it’s a good time to look at what separates the greatest from the rest when it comes to what can be both the easiest and the hardest shot in the game. We’ll also look at possible reasons that position seems to play a big part in one’s free throw ability, and why big men are even more susceptible to the pressure of the moment.

One of the things NBA players, or any basketball player seeking to move from amateur to elite, spend the most time on is self-regulation and focus, which can have a huge impact on makes or misses, but is easiest to identify at the free throw line, since the variables of the shot are easiest to control. We don’t have to compare 20 foot, defended fadeaway jumpers to wide open shots from the same spot, so it’s harder to compare. With free throws, we know the shot is always the same, and we can isolate end of game free throws in a close game from the rest.

One way we can look at how athletes are responding under stress is to examine how their brain reacts. An electroencephalogram (EEG) consists of a number of electrodes that are attached to a person’s scalp that track brain waves of various frequencies, each of which have been associated with different states of mind, such as focus or sleep. A study by Chuang, Huang, and Hung in 2013 looked at EEG recordings of players while shooting free throws. They focused specifically at the frontal midline theta wave, which has been shown to be highly correlated with concentration and focused attention. They noticed that for missed free throws, the theta wave was unstable and often showed a U shape. For made free throws, the theta wave showed a trend upwards as the player prepared for the free throw, showing a gradual increase in concentration and focus. They theorize that for the inconsistent waves, the player most likely began to “think” about things too much, which in turn ruins their focus and causes the missed shot. With the increased pressure of the NBA Playoffs, it is easy for any player to start thinking about the costs of missing. Many amateur athletes struggle with this self-talk and begin a spiral before a big shot about how disappointed people will be, how much is on the line, or even looking at how big the moment itself is. Sports psychologist spend hours upon hours helping players to identify this self-talk and refocus on the task at hand using a variety of techniques that include mindfulness, self-regulation techniques such as relaxation, and mental rehearsal so that even in the biggest moments, the athletes has been there hundreds of times before.

The other interesting study relates to “big men” (playing the Center position) and how they appear to be even more susceptible to this pressure. Gomez et al examined Spanish basketball league players and their free throw shooting efficiency throughout the game. They noted that free throw efficiency tends to decrease as the game wears on due to the increased stress toward the end of the game, especially within the last minute. Research seems to suggest that “choking” often comes from either higher levels of anxiety from the performer, which reduces attentional capacity as noticed in the earlier study. NBA players also miss more shots when the game is within one point, suggesting that the pressure affects their focus and attention on the task. When they examined positions, they noticed that while Centers started out with a lower overall career free throw percentage, the drop under situations deemed “high pressure” was more precipitous than Forwards or Guards, falling from around 70% to 54%, while the others dropped around 8% and 1% for Guards and Forwards, respectively. Their theory around this relates to Centers spending most of their time playing with their back to the basket, which creates a very different spatial perception of the court, while also affording them fewer opportunities for shots further away from the basket. As this skill is not as well learned by most Centers, they believe it makes sense that this would be more susceptible to higher-pressure situations. While the research isn’t definitive, it provides some insight into why some of the biggest NBA players struggle from the free throw line for years without improvement.

Research into free throw shooting and the effects of pressure are helpful tools for sports psychologists to use to help both amatuer and elite athletes alike meet their goals. Sports performance depends so much on the ability to manage stress while keeping your mind completely focused on the task at hand. For basketball players, sports psychologists work to improve focus and flow and avoid the pitfalls of choking with a set of structured, tailored exercises to help athletes of all ages cope with the pressure. At FPA Performance, we can help athletes of a wide variety of sports in the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg/Clearwater area meet their goals and learn to always achieve their best mental performance.

Sources:

Chuang, L., Huang, C., & Hung, T. (2013). The differences in frontal midline theta power between successful and unsuccessful basketball free throws of elite basketball players. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 90(3), 321-328. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.10.002

Gómez, M., Avugos, S., Oñoro, M., Lorenzo, A., & Bar-Eli, M. (2018). Shaq is Not Alone: Free-Throws in the Final Moments of a Basketball Game. Journal of Human Kinetics, 62(1), 135-144. doi:10.1515/hukin-2017-0165