How much will homecourt advantage matter in this years playoffs?

[All Net]

For example both title contenders Spurs and Cavs will need to likely win on the road in both the conference finals and finals to win it all? Do you see this as an issue? Or are you a believer best team wins wether they have HCA or not.

[ISHGoat]

Home court advantage is real, in NBA it is about 2.7 ppg differential. Home teams are scoring 2.7 more points than road teams this year.

In the playoffs, this is less relevant because the team with home court advantage IN THE SERIES is the higher seed, which already means they have been better in the regular season. Also, it doesnt come into play unless the game goes to 7, which is when homecourt advantage (in the series) actually kicks in, since before that, each team will have had 3 games at home/away.

Think of the ncaa tournament, the higher seed gets to be the "home team" and wear the home uniform. And nonetheless, the "home" team wins a lot more than the "road" team. However, we know this is bogus because the site is generally neutral and the "home" team is just the higher seed.

So it is not homecourt advantage that matters as much as say, the fact that GSW won 65 games and their opponent is a 45 win team.

This is a standard case of confusing cause and effect. Being the better team grants you home court advantage. Having home court advantage very marginally makes you a better team (by 2.7ppg in the reg season).

In conclusion, it doesnt matter unless the game goes to 7, in which case the team with the higher seed and playing at home should be significantly favored. Arent like 80% of game 7's won by the home team?

[ArbitraryWater]

Same question every year.. I think HC teams win like 75% of their series'?

Anyway, it will come down to Cavs, Warriors, Spurs.... Spurs can beat anyone, anywhere.

edit: what is interesting, Spurs/Cavs might both end up with 55 wins (If Spurs lose @ Houston), so who'd get HC in the Finals? Trying to check right now..

edit: Guess Cavs because they won their Division?

[ISHGoat]

Same question every year.. I think HC teams win like 75% of their series'?

Anyway, it will come down to Cavs, Warriors, Spurs.... Spurs can beat anyone, anywhere.

This is true but the correct interpretation is that "the favourites win 75% of their series".

Imagine HC is reversed, the lower seeds get home court advantage. I hypothesize that the higher seed would still win at over a 70% clip in the series. Then we would be calling it "road court advantage".

It is not "home court advantage" as much as the team with home court advantage is just the straight up favourite, no matter if they play in their own court, the opponents court, or in your local gym.

[ArbitraryWater]

This is true but the correct interpretation is that "the favourites win 75% of their series".

Imagine HC is reversed, the lower seeds get home court advantage. I hypothesize that the higher seed would still win at over a 70% clip in the series. Then we would be calling it "road court advantage".

It is not "home court advantage" as much as the team with home court advantage is just the straight up favourite, no matter if they play in their own court, the opponents court, or in your local gym.

Okay.. another way to look at it, but I wouldn't go by that... simply teams with HC win this _ amount of series'...

because having HC, hence in most cases a better record/higher seed, doesn't necessarily mean they're the favorites... at all.

Matchups play a big issue, newly made trades skewing records, or injuries skewing records, etc.

[oarabbus]

Home court advantage is real, in NBA it is about 2.7 ppg differential. Home teams are scoring 2.7 more points than road teams this year.

In the playoffs, this is less relevant because the team with home court advantage IN THE SERIES is the higher seed, which already means they have been better in the regular season. Also, it doesnt come into play unless the game goes to 7, which is when homecourt advantage (in the series) actually kicks in, since before that, each team will have had 3 games at home/away.

Think of the ncaa tournament, the higher seed gets to be the "home team" and wear the home uniform. And nonetheless, the "home" team wins a lot more than the "road" team. However, we know this is bogus because the site is generally neutral and the "home" team is just the higher seed.

So it is not homecourt advantage that matters as much as say, the fact that GSW won 65 games and their opponent is a 45 win team.

This is a standard case of confusing cause and effect. Being the better team grants you home court advantage. Having home court advantage very marginally makes you a better team (by 2.7ppg in the reg season).

In conclusion, it doesnt matter unless the game goes to 7, in which case the team with the higher seed and playing at home should be significantly favored. Arent like 80% of game 7's won by the home team?

Good point but it's worth noting that the West between 2nd and 6th seed there is a 1-2 game difference. Less than 5% difference in wins, hardly significant. This specific year HCA will matter tremendously for that reason

[All Net]

Same question every year.. I think HC teams win like 75% of their series'?

Anyway, it will come down to Cavs, Warriors, Spurs.... Spurs can beat anyone, anywhere.

edit: what is interesting, Spurs/Cavs might both end up with 55 wins (If Spurs lose @ Houston), so who'd get HC in the Finals? Trying to check right now..

edit: Guess Cavs because they won their Division?

doesn't it go on cross conference record if teams have same record and are tied in Head to head?

[atljonesbro]

Playing in Atlanta will be a nightmare for opposing teams. During te playoffs the atmosphere is crazy every year but this year it's gonna be amplified big time.

[GimmeThat]

As much as the in-game adjustment going into the third quarter.

[ArbitraryWater]

I mean cmon, teams are sometimes split by like 3-4 games... thats not alot, at all over an 82 game stretch... they may even have performed better but a shot here or there, hitting an opponent in the month they peaked, etc. can change an outcome of a game. HCA is pretty big. Not huge, since the better team can always find a way to win, but its pretty big.

[Fire Colangelo]

Maybe we can look at historical 4th seed vs 5th seed match ups, since those two seeds should be the closest in strength... As well as conference finals match ups.

[blablabla]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12241619/home-court-advantage-decline


http://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2015%2F0128%2Fnba_HaberstrohHCAch art_576x324.jpg&w=570

Of course regular season and playoffs are two different beasts, crowds are more amped up and the players mentality is different when they are playing at home but as Haberstroh pointed out in the article the two main factors, that caused a significant homecourt advantage, travel and refs are insignificant in todays NBA.

[JebronLames]

doesn't it go on cross conference record if teams have same record and are tied in Head to head?
Division record, so cavs would get it. Go rockets!

[mehyaM24]

alot. this isn't an individual sport where the crowd is split.

teams go ham in the regular season to get that hca.