Home Court Importance

5/11 Home Court Importance

 

            During the NBA playoffs, you can’t judge how a team will play based on the regular season, especially for home playoff games.  Teams play with more intensity when it is playoff time.  This has been evident for this year’s playoffs.  That is why it is so important to have home court advantage or at least win the games you have at home.  This fact has been shown in a couple of different series thus far.

            First of all there is the Celtics and Cavaliers series.  The Celtics had one of the best regular season road records, but they can’t win on the road in the playoffs.  The Celtics won the first two games of the series, which were in Boston.  Then the series went to Cleveland and the Cavaliers blew out the Celtics in game three by 24 points.  The Cavaliers looked absolutely dead in games one and two.  The Celtics looked like they could take this series in four games as LeBron was totally shut down.  Not so fast though, the Cavaliers showed that they can beat the Celtics when they are at home and the Celtics showed that they can beat the Cavaliers when they are at home.  Since the Celtics will get home court in game seven, they could potentially keep losing in Cleveland as long they keep winning at home.  That is why home court advantage is so key.  What would have happened to the Celtics had game seven not been at home against the Hawks?  Where would they be now?  Probably out of the playoffs.

            Another series where home court is making a huge difference is the Lakers and Jazz series.  Just like with the Celtics, the Lakers dominated games one and two which were home games.  Then they went to Utah and lost the next two games.  It is really fascinating how the home court can swing a series like that.  All of a sudden the series is tied; just like that the Lakers blew games three and four.  The Jazz looked like a very different team, in a positive way, in front of their home fans as did the Cavaliers.  The Lakers and Celtics both looked extremely different in a negative way when away from their home fans. 

            It is something about playing in front of your home fans that can ignite teams.  LeBron and the Cavaliers had nothing in Boston, but came out firing in game three.  It is just so weird that the playoffs can make a team so much different than in the regular season.  The Celtics were an excellent road team in the regular season.  The scary fact about this home court situation is that the discrepancy in play between home and away games is happening to the two number one playoff seeds.  A lot of people are expecting the Celtics and Lakers to meet in the NBA finals, but will they get there?  Eventually, not being able to win on the road in the playoffs is going to hurt the Celtics and Lakers.