Valuing La Pausa: Quantifying Optimal Pass Timing Beyond Speed

Authors: Minho Lee, Geonhee Jo, Miru Hong, Prof. Dr. Pascal Bauer, and Prof. Sang-Ki Ko

This paper introduces PAUSA, a metric that evaluates pass timing optimality rather than speed. By decomposing decisions into 'Temporal Judgment' and 'Spatial Selection' using the OBSO model, the study demonstrates that PAUSA correlates more strongly with team performance than traditional speed-based metrics. This framework effectively identifies elite players who utilize strategic delay ("La Pausa"), shifting the analytical focus from execution speed to the optimality of timing.