Starting a Game and Tracking Possession

Starting a Game with Synergy Stats App 

Once the Team Setup step is completed in Synergy Stats by selecting active players, starters, team captains, team colors, and staff members for both teams, the application will take you to the main scouting/stats collecting screen.

Switching Team Court Sides 

Synergy Stats users can switch courtside for the home and away team at any moment of the game for stats collection process convenience, and for effective, optimal action recording.  

The Switch Court Sides button is located on the Synergy Stats main scouting screen, under the game clock, between the Timeout and Jump Ball buttons. Every time you click on it, the home and away team change their court sides. 

Note: Synergy Stats court sides align with the basket the respective team attacks in the specific period. In the example above, Team 2 (blue) attacks the left basket and defends the right basket.

At halftime, the court sides are automatically switched following FIBA basketball rules. However, this can be controlled by the league administrator from the Match Profile settings in Comp Admin.  

Initial Jump Ball

To start the game, you must click on the Jump Ball button and follow the actions below to record the initial game jump ball.. All buttons on the Synergy Stats interface will be non-clickable and no actions can be added before the initial jump ball action is completed. 

Synergy Stats will then display the Jump Ball - Match Start screen, where you can add the initial jump ball details:

• Select players to participate in the jump ball action (Jump Ball Competitors) from both teams by clicking on their jersey numbers.
• Select the Start Match button.
• The game clock will then start running.
• Select the jump ball winner by clicking on the winning Team button.

The first game possession will then be assigned, and the winner of the jump ball will be marked with an orange basketball, and the alternating white possession arrow will appear, indicating the game direction.

The white possession arrow can be manually changed, if required, by clicking the opposite team's grey arrow. The Synergy Stats interface will now let you collect statistics by clicking on all buttons and using all functionalities now that the game has started.  

Clock Management

After selecting jumpball competitors, you can start the game clock by pressing the Start Match button on the Jump Ball screen. 

The game clock is not automated and will need to be manually controlled by relying on referees’ singals and the whistle blows.  The game clock is controlled either by mouse clicks or keyboard space bar clicks. Every click stops or starts the clock. 

Clock adjustments can be made using the edit icon next to the time on the game clock. To adjust the lock, first stop the clock and then click on the icon. 

Then use the up/down icons located on both sides of the clock to make further adjustments.  The pair on the right side will adjust seconds while the pair on the left will adjust minutes.  

Once you're satisfied with the clock timing changes, click on the check mark icon to save your changes. 

However, there are some situations during the game where the clock will stop automatically based on basketball rules. 

• When a turnover violation is in place for a player or a team (except for Bad Pass and/or Ballhandling) 
• When a foul is in place 
• When a timeout is called 
• When a jump ball is in place 

Possession tracking

Synergy Stats tracks all possessions in a basketball game, starting with the very first team possession of the ball after the initial jump ball. The orange basketball marks the current possession for a team in a game, and the white arrow indicates the direction of play. Ball possession switches between both teams, and more or less indicates when a team is on offense.

In basketball, possession can change with missed shots, defensive rebounds, turnovers, fouls, jump ball situations, and more. For effective and correct stats collecting, you must always be aware of which team is in possession and record the actions for this team first, followed by the events that lead to ball possession alternation.  

Also, another tip or best practice is NOT to have back-to-back events for the same team in offense in the action log/play-by-play, but to follow the flow of the game, where offense and defense take turns.  

Example:  

• Team A (possession) - Turnover  
• Team B (possession gained) 

• Team B (possession) - Missed 2 pts Jump Shot 
• Team A (possession gained) - player’s defensive rebound