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The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

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Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#41

Dellavedova of the Cavaliers, drank tons of coffee before games during the finals series against the Warriors when Kyrie was out. He played above his perceived ability, though the Cavaliers ultimately lost.

To add a bit more color to the above thought:

He also collapsed after one of the games from dehydration, had to be taken to the hospital, and was not effective in any games afterwards. Maybe he had a little too much energy?

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The timing can also play into it (not sure if by 'plan' you mean down to the hour as well). https://i.imgur.com/1IyKjSg.jpg As I get older, my tolerance has lowered. I used to be able to handle a Starbucks 'tall' cup, but now I can only drink two espressos at most, if spaced out by two hours or so. If I go over my limit, it's 7-9 hours of lying still in a dark room with a migraine-like headache. For more on cortisol…

Starbucks drip coffee contains a lot more caffeine per serving than espresso... I have seen figures that a venti size medium roast can be 280mg total, while single espresso shots might be as little as 70mg. https://www.kickinghorsecoffee.com/en/blog/caffeine-myths-es...

In general all lighter roasts have more caffeine than the same beans roasted to a darker state. Espresso uses a particularly dark roast and is relatively lower in caffeine content. Of course you don’t drink normal coffee in single shots, and you know the old saying, “Quantity has a quality of its own.” Sipping a beer will get you as much alcohol as shot of whisky, but you can work several shots into a single cocktail.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#43
post #10

> Office workers, sleepy truckers, hospital nurses on 10-hour shifts, cabbies, students, cops? They're not the only ones who benefit from a cup, or a few, Harkless pointed out. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee. However, it may be more accurate to say that all of these people (including the athletes) are using caffeine to medicate their chronic sleep deprivation, which may be at least partly caused in the first place…

You make a good point. Sure, caffeine provides a quick, easy and relatively safe (and legal) boost. But ultimately, you have to balance that short term solution with a slightly longer term view of sleep quality and other recovery efforts. For example, what do they eat / drink as soon as the game is over to optimize recovery (so caffeine is less necessary the following night). Put another way, you can alert the body a…

From the article, "'The half-life of caffeine is five to seven hours,' says Brian St. Pierre, director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition."

So if they drink some 30 minutes before a ~2.5 hr game, they've got 3 hours post-game. Which seems reasonable: an hour for interviews / meetings, some travel, settling in, then normal sleep.

At the NBA level, they're definitely not deficient on post-game recovery and nutrients either.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#44

> "WHEN IT COMES to the toll of travel, the NBA is in a league all its own. NBA teams, according to ESPN Stats & Information's Vincent Johnson, average 43,534 miles per season, nearly 7 percent more than..." Not to get too far off topic but couldn't it be possible for the NBA (or any league) to optimize for this? Along the same lines, I have to wonder if there's a way to incorporate such signals into a betting algori…

The NBA optimizes for this somewhat. Many east coast teams will play all three Texas based teams in a single trip. There are a lot of factors that can get in the way of this, such as concerts, trade shows, or other large events that are booked in large arenas. For instance, the Spurs are forced to go on 22 day road trip because their home arena is busy hosting the annual San Antonio Stock and Rodeo Show. There is als…

"teams on the 2nd game of a back to back road trip win just 32% of their contests"

Well, ok, but since there is presumably an overall home court advantage, 32% (or 37%) isn't in comparison to a baseline of 50%, but something less. I found a page that suggests the median NBA team wins a little under 40% of its road games. There are teams that do fairly good at home that average around 33% on the road.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#45
I wonder if any of them have experimented with cold brew yet. Personally, my preference is Funranium Labs' (http://www.funraniumlabs.com) Black Blood of The Earth (BBoTE). The upside is that you don't need to carry around alot of apparatus: You can get a good Americano equivalent with 3:1 or 4:1 BBoTE to hot water. Or you can have it straight.

One downside is that it's supposed to be stored cold; but it can handle 2 days of room-temperature (considering how it is shipped), so maybe it's not too big of an issue. Another downside is most of the BBoTE offerings are single-origin, so things go out of stock from time to time, but there are some blends available: Death Wish is one, and the proprietor has been known to do custom batches of Dunkin Donuts and other blends.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#46

While teams in the NFL only play one game per week, there are a few games played in England each year. That can be an 8 hour time difference for west coast teams.

The process of making the NFL schedule has been discussed here before (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14192378, for example), and IIRC they do try to give teams some time off after extra-US games (so they can adjust, time-wise), either on their own or because teams ask for it.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#47

> "WHEN IT COMES to the toll of travel, the NBA is in a league all its own. NBA teams, according to ESPN Stats & Information's Vincent Johnson, average 43,534 miles per season, nearly 7 percent more than..." Not to get too far off topic but couldn't it be possible for the NBA (or any league) to optimize for this? Along the same lines, I have to wonder if there's a way to incorporate such signals into a betting algori…

Not sure what you mean by optimize, but MLB teams often play several games against each other in a row.

But that’s slightly different because it could be seen to change the dynamic form performance over a season to fewer best out of N events.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#48
When I was a road warrior at Hewlett Packard, one of my coworkers bought me an aeropress. Kinda changed my life to be honest. Being able to make legitimately great coffee no matter where I am is fantastic.

Up until that point, I had a lot of weeks where I'd be traveling 20-30 hours a week, and drinking garbage coffee. Great coffee makes working so much easier, and an aeropress isn't much larger than a soda can. I basically pack the aeropress, a few filters, and a canister of freshly ground coffee beans. I'm able to make coffee that rivals any good coffee shop, and it takes up nearly no space in my luggage.

Re: The game-day caffeine routine that powers the NBA's most frequent flyers

#50
post #10

> Office workers, sleepy truckers, hospital nurses on 10-hour shifts, cabbies, students, cops? They're not the only ones who benefit from a cup, or a few, Harkless pointed out. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee. However, it may be more accurate to say that all of these people (including the athletes) are using caffeine to medicate their chronic sleep deprivation, which may be at least partly caused in the first place…

It is a moderate stimulant, right? So it should provide a small boost even if you're not sleep deprived.
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