NBA Semifinals: Home Teams Winning Big

The NBA Playoffs: Where Amazing Happens. No doubt about it. David Stern certainly got that right.

Out of the 16 home games in the four semi-final series, the home teams have won 15.

The only loss so far was the Magic’s 90-89 squeaker with the Detroit Pistons in Orlando. And that was a game the Magic should have won but let a 17-point lead slip away.

So what accounts for this amazing 15-1 home court record? Is it the crowds? Is it the noise? Is it the familiarity of the home court? Is it something in the food that the hotels are serving the visiting team? Or is it the referees?

One could argue that the last Lakers-Jazz game was decided at the foul line. The Lakers had gone to the line 48 more times than the Jazz in the first three games of the series. But in the last game, the Jazz took twenty more free throws than the Lakers.

How could that be? Were the referees influenced by the crowd?

Well, how about the fact that the Jazz were more aggressive offensively, driving into the paint and challenging the Lakers front line? That was the reason they drew more fouls.

Also, the lopsided number of free throws in favor of the Jazz would not have mattered had the Lakers made a couple of those eleven free throws that they so uncharacteristically missed.

In the other series, the Hornets-Spurs, the Cavaliers-Celtics, the Pistons-Magic, the disparity in foul calls wasn’t that great. So, if it’s not the officiating, then what is it?

For the Lakers and the Celtics, the two Number One seeds, it’s their defense in the middle that has broken down. The Jazz and Celtics are able to get the ball to their big men inside who are finding open layups and dunks.

With the Hornets, it’s a matter of being completely outplayed at both ends of the court by the San Antonio Spurs. Once the two teams traveled to San Antonio, the Hornets found that they had no answer for Parker, Ginobili and Duncan, who seem to score at will.

The only visiting team to have any success on the road in the semi-finals was Detroit, which managed to squeeze by the Magic by shutting down Superman, Dwight Howard.

So, what is the reason for teams which have looked superior at home to suddenly break down on the road. And not just break down, but fall to pieces like the Hornets have or like the Lakers did in the overtime period against the Jazz.

Why have the unstoppable Celtics, who dominated the regular season, finally become vulnerable on defense on the road? Don’t they have the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett? Has he suddenly forgotten how to play defense? I doubt it.

Why have the Lakers, one of the better free-throwing teams in the NBA, suddenly been unable to hit from the charity stripe? And even more strangely, why has their "Bench Mob," which they named themselves, suddenly become just that – an undisciplined mob unable to score except for Sasha Vujacic or play defense?

Why have the Hornets, which looked like they were ready to blow the reigning NBA champion Spurs right out of the semi-finals in four straight, suddenly can’t find the basket or get a stop on defense?

Something very strange is taking place, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with the Emperor of the NBA, David Stern.

Emperor Stern must have looked at the television revenue stream between four-game sweeps by the Celtics, Hornets, Lakers and Pistons and full seven-game series and then got down on his knees and burned incense to the Basketball Gods in Valhalla.

Magically, except for one game, they granted his wish. He has gotten the miracle he so fervently prayed for.

Now, Emperor Stern, if you can manage to get the gods to give us seven games all the way through the conference finals and the championship with two and three days separation between games, we might be able to stretch it to the start of football season.

That would be great. I hate watching baseball.