Pace Factor Calculator
Definition – What is Pace Factor?
Pace Factor measures the number of possessions of the ball by a team in a basketball game.
A pace factor of 100 from 1 game would indicate that there were a total of 100 possessions in the game. A pace factor of 75 over 100 games would indicate that a team averages 75 possessions per game.
How to calculate Pace Factor
Pace Factor = Minutes per Game x ((Team Possessions + Opponent Possessions) ÷ (2 x (Team Minutes Played ÷ 5)))
Where:
- “Minutes per Game” are the number of regulation minutes in a game. The NBA is 48 minutes. The WNBA, FIBA, and NCAA are 40 minutes of regulation time. Do not include overtime play.
- “Team Possessions” and “Opponent Possessions” are the number of of possessions by each team. A possession happens when a team gets offensive possession of the ball. The possession ends when the team scores, loses the ball, or commits a foul or violation.
- “Team Minutes Played” is the number of minutes every player on the court plays. If a regulation game is 48 minutes, then the team minutes played would be 48 minutes x 5 players = 240 team minutes.Include overtime play.
Example
In a game, a team has had 82 possessions and their opponents 77. The team’s players have played for a total of 240 minutes, and the match was 48 minutes long.
Pace Factor = 48 x ((82 + 77) ÷ (2 x (240 ÷ 5))
Pace Factor = 48 x (159 ÷ (2 x 48))
Pace Factor = 48 x (159 ÷ 96)
Pace Factor = 48 x 1.656
Pace Factor 79.5
Therefore, this team has a pace factor of 79.5.
Sources and more resources
- Glossary entries from Basketball Reference.
- 82 Breaks – Fastbreaks: Back to the Future.
- Hoopdata – Defense and the “Fifth Factor”