I don't think blues legend Robert Johnson had the NBA playoffs in mind when he penned the song "Traveling Roadside Blues.” But the title of the song has become an apt description of the way the playoffs have run its course so far.
In the first and second rounds this year, the home team has lost just 13 games and only one game in the second round (The Pistons beat the Magic on the road in game four).
Consider that the NBA's best road team in the regular season was the Boston Celtics who finished the season 31-10, out scoring their opponents by 2000 points for the season.
In the playoffs, the Celtics are 0-5. As the league's best defensive team, it has allowed opponents to average 99.6 points per game while scoring only 89.2 points per game themselves.
In comparison, at home, the Celtics are averaging 95.7 points per game and playing stingy defense, allowing opponents 77.3 points per game.
However, the Celtics are not the only team who has experienced troubles on the road in these playoffs.
The Lakers looked like the NBA's best team after outplaying Utah in games one and two at the Staples Center, and then fell back to earth when Utah smacked them in games three and four.
In New Orleans, many wondered if they were witnessing a changing of the guard when Chris Paul eviscerated Tony Parker in games one and two. Then the Spurs went home and walloped the Hornets.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The trend has continued as the Hornets won handily in game five and then went to San Antonio yesterday and got beat handily.
I understand that the fans can get loud, and the players can feed off that energy and ride the wave of momentum to victory.
That still doesn't explain how the Hawks, a team that the Celtics tossed around in the regular season, managed to win three games against the NBA's best team with relative ease.
I also understand the other advantages of home court such as comfort level, familiarity, adrenaline rush, and the ability to fluster the opposing team.
All of these traits help the home team in some fashion, but they are all too minor to account for the developing trend we are witnessing now.
It’s not so much a telling sign of the advantages if home court as much as it is an anomaly, or phenomenon that is incredibly difficult to understand or quantify.
What is it that makes Paul Pierce, Lebron James, Carlos Boozer, and Kobe Bryant disappear when they play on the road?
Why is it that Wally Szcerbiak, David West, and Tony Parker are all monsters at home and non-factors on the road?
My guess? The remaining teams in the playoffs, on both sides of the bracket are evenly matched.
Throw out the Hawks and Celtics series, and you will see that in the first round the home team lost so often because the team they were facing was just better.
The Nuggets didn't win at home, the Suns just won once at home, and so did the Rockets.
Now look at the second round. The only team that has lost a home game was the Orlando Magic, a team nobody picked to beat the Pistons except for maybe eight people in Orlando.
Everyone else has been dominating on their home court.
The remaining teams are San Antonio (56-26), New Orleans (56-26), Utah (54-28), Los Angeles (57-25), Detroit (59-23), Cleveland (45-37), and Boston (66-16).
Boston and Detroit's records are inflated slightly because they feasted off the weaker East. Cleveland is better because they have King James on the floor.
Add all that together and you get the four most even match-ups of the playoffs in recent memory.
Therefore, even the slightest edge can propel one team to victory while the other languishes in defeat.
Crowd noise, travel exhaustion, and familiarity with the rims when taken out of context are minor advantages that don't decide the outcome of a game.
But when those minor advantages are plugged into drag'em out series' like the ones we are seeing in this playoffs, they are put under the microscope and their influence grows exponentially.
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