Road teams creating home court disadvantage in play-offs

USA Today (TNS)

Home-court advantage? More like home court disadvantage early in the NBA’s Eastern and Western Conference play-off semifinals.

Three road teams — Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers — took Game 1 on the road in their conference semifinals series.

Wizards have taken the road warrior mentality a step further, winning their first three road play-off games this season — taking the first two in Toronto and Game 1 in Atlanta.

As boggling as it is impressive, Wizards were 8-1 on the road in the past two seasons prior to Game 2 against Hawks.

“You try to get two on the road, but most importantly try to get the first game,” Wizards guard John Wall said.

Wall also said it requires fighting through adversity — the noise, the scoring runs made by the home team — and sticking to the game plan.

Bulls guard Jimmy Butler, who had 20 points, six assists and five rebounds in Chicago’s Game 1 victory in Cleveland, was straightforward: “It’s important to win as many games as possible on the road.”

Cleveland’s LeBron James is no stranger to 1-0 series deficits. His Miami Heat team dropped the series opener at home to Chicago Bulls in 2013 but won the series in five games.

“Home-court doesn’t guarantee you an extra game on your floor. The only time it would guarantee you is if you get to a Game 7,” James said. “You have to go out and play and if you’re fortunate enough to have a Game 7 then so be it. You play every game, try to win every game and give your game plan, go out and try to execute and see what happens.”

Or as ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said, “All I know is if you get to Game 7, everyone would rather play at home.”

There is the postseason axiom that a play-off series doesn’t begin until the road team wins a game, and while that’s not the whole truth, the marrow of the statement is valid. At some point along the way to a championship, a team needs to win games on the road.

In the previous five postseasons, the road team has averaged four series wins each season, and this year, the road team has two series wins and could get more in the conference semifinals. Historically, the home team has won 66 per cent of playoff games, but last season it was just 56.2 per cent and 57.7 per cent prior to Tuesday’s games,

Home court still matters, but the road team is pushing the home team harder than ever.

Regardless of what transpires the rest of the postseason, the road team is winning more often in the regular season. In 2014-15, the road team won 42.5 per cent of games played, up from 39.7 per cent in 2012-13. In 1988-89, the road team won just 32.1 per cent of the time.

“In my experience over the years it has decreased,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. “That does not mean that it’s not an advantage. I just think over the years it’s become somewhat less significant. But for us to be able to play in front of our home crowd and for us particularly since January, our home performance has been outstanding.

“We definitely gain advantage by playing in Cleveland, playing in front of our fans, and we hope to take better advantage of it.”

Blatt said he has a theory on why home-court advantage is disappearing slowly, but protecting information like a CIA agent during the Cold War, Blatt refused to divulge state secrets.

“I have a very specific theory but I’m not going to talk about it right now. Another time and another place,” Blatt said.

Earlier this season, ESPN studied the trend of increasing road success and concluded the home team has suffered statistical declines in several areas.