Team resilience in the NBA: When teams fall behind

National Basketball Association (NBA) games have become more volatile in scoring as the pace of the game has quickened and reliance on the three-point shot has increased. This research analyzes 20-point scoring deficits and the comeback abilities of NBA teams from an archival, as well as team resilience perspective, which is the ability of a team to deal with adversity. The collective experience of challenge by all team members is a process more complex to study than individual resilience due to the diverse interactions between teammates. Another aspect of this study is the context of locale or home versus away in investigating these great deficit games. A series of Pearson correlations shows a greater frequency of such games in more recent seasons. It was also found that of games that hit a 20-point score difference and then return to a tie, both teams have roughly an equal chance of winning the game (i.e., lack of momentum). This suggests that teams that fall behind by 20 points, as well as teams that lose this lead, demonstrate team resilience. Lastly, away teams are more likely to fall behind, but home teams are more likely to make a comeback. Ways to improve team resilience in professional basketball are discussed.