Standard economic assumption is that increasing incentives will increase effort and that this increased effort in turn leads to better performance. Yet, within the framework of psychology, high-stake situations may be experienced not only as motivating but also as stressing, which may be associated with performance decline.
We have utilized 25 seasons of NBA playoffs and regular season data to examine human performance (e.g., shooting, rebounding, etc.) under varied conditions. That is, we have compared non-elimination, one-sided and two-sided elimination playoff games' performance to determine if the high pressure experienced by the team playing with its back to the wall will boost or undermine performance.
We identified 456 one-sided elimination games, we accounted for regular season performance and controlled for the relative strength of the teams. Our analysis of 11 game parameters failed to observe the anticipated boosting “back to the wall” effect, nor have we detected an overwhelming choking.
We conclude that when the stakes are already extremely high, such as games in NBA playoffs, additional pressure induced by being in a “win or go home” situation is only slightly detrimental.