How important is home court during playoffs?

[Dice]

I feel like the spurs need to get it going early and pile on the wins. Homecourt advantage has helped this team in the past and when it comes time to play the Lakers I think it could be the difference. All this talk about these early games not meaning anything seems a little short sighted to me. I feel like they're capable of winning a ton of games and the longer you wait to get it going, the more wins other teams are piling on.

Or am I wrong and home court means little to nothing for this team?

[FlAVaK]

Health is the most important thing for this team!

[portnoy1]

Homecourt is nice to have. Very nice. But if your a good road team, homecourt isnt that big of a deal. Pop wants his players to be healthy at the end of the 82game season thats the first thing he wants. After that he wants everyone in sync, playing together. After that is probably homecourt advantage. If the spurs become a solid road team this season, then it doesnt matter where they play. Last season we had homecourt with no Manu. What would have been better, Manu with us starting in dallas or Homecourt with no Manu? We have already seen half of that equation. To be a good road team you have to play defense. Your shots will come and go. One night you can light it up from the 3pt line the next you cant throw a beach ball in the water. Defense however allows you to impose your will night in night out unlike 3pt shots. Just like their are nights where you cant miss, the other team will have nights where there unconscious from the field. Protecting the paint needs to be our main priority right now if we wanna win a ring. In 99' and 03' we had Drob/Tim. In 05' we had Tim/Nazr/Horry and 07' Tim/Fab/Horry. Drob/Nazr/Horry could block shots While Oberto although not a shotblocker rotated very well, and was able to draw charges and cut off penetration. Aside from Tim who is slow as molasses right now, we have no one to cut off penetration. The reason the spurs were so succesfull defensively is cause they had 2 bigmen. One would be in the paint and wait for guys driving baseline to block their shots and the other would get the rebound. Example 07' Duncan intimidates shot and Oberto makes sure that he has position to get the miss. You dont need 2 shotblockers nessecarily to be solid defensively just 2 big guys who understand team defense. Spurs already have their shotblocker in Tim, now they need a second big guy to cover the boards so the other team cant get offensive rebounds off an intimidated miss by a driving guard.

[easjer]

If you have watched the Spurs for any length of time then you know that homecourt is a far bigger priority for fans than for the Spurs.

Pop is concerned with team chemistry and getting to the playoffs. He doesn't much care whether that is as a division winner or a sixth seed. Especially in the West, the differences in seeding are deceptive.

Fact of the matter is that homecourt is nice for ticket sales and sometimes slightly more favorable officiating. But a good team wins wherever they play. The focus has to be on creating the best team. And if the Spurs do that, the wins will come.

[#2!]

Homecourt is nice to have. Very nice. But if your a good road team, homecourt isnt that big of a deal. Pop wants his players to be healthy at the end of the 82game season thats the first thing he wants. After that he wants everyone in sync, playing together. After that is probably homecourt advantage. If the spurs become a solid road team this season, then it doesnt matter where they play. Last season we had homecourt with no Manu. What would have been better, Manu with us starting in dallas or Homecourt with no Manu? We have already seen half of that equation. To be a good road team you have to play defense. Your shots will come and go. One night you can light it up from the 3pt line the next you cant throw a beach ball in the water. Defense however allows you to impose your will night in night out unlike 3pt shots. Just like their are nights where you cant miss, the other team will have nights where there unconscious from the field. Protecting the paint needs to be our main priority right now if we wanna win a ring. In 99' and 03' we had Drob/Tim. In 05' we had Tim/Nazr/Horry and 07' Tim/Fab/Horry. Drob/Nazr/Horry could block shots While Oberto although not a shotblocker rotated very well, and was able to draw charges and cut off penetration. Aside from Tim who is slow as molasses right now, we have no one to cut off penetration. The reason the spurs were so succesfull defensively is cause they had 2 bigmen. One would be in the paint and wait for guys driving baseline to block their shots and the other would get the rebound. Example 07' Duncan intimidates shot and Oberto makes sure that he has position to get the miss. You dont need 2 shotblockers nessecarily to be solid defensively just 2 big guys who understand team defense. Spurs already have their shotblocker in Tim, now they need a second big guy to cover the boards so the other team cant get offensive rebounds off an intimidated miss by a driving guard.

Start using the enter button occasionally, that is unless you're okay with most people just not reading your posts.

While HCA isn't the most important thing in the playoffs it never hurts. I think by season's end the Spurs won't need homecourt against most teams, however I agree with the OP's assertion that it might be the difference against LA.

...Lets hope not though, b/c the Spurs are gonna bust their asses to be a good team, but not necessarily for the sake of their record.

[Dex]

If you have watched the Spurs for any length of time then you know that homecourt is a far bigger priority for fans than for the Spurs.

Pop is concerned with team chemistry and getting to the playoffs. He doesn't much care whether that is as a division winner or a sixth seed. Especially in the West, the differences in seeding are deceptive.

Fact of the matter is that homecourt is nice for ticket sales and sometimes slightly more favorable officiating. But a good team wins wherever they play. The focus has to be on creating the best team. And if the Spurs do that, the wins will come.

:tu

You have to win on the road to win in the playoffs anyways. Unless you have home court all the way through and feel like playing 28 extra games with four Game Sevens.

Home court would definitely be welcomed, but getting to the playoffs healthy should be the bigger priority. This team should have the experience to go into an opponents house and steal big games.

Then again, they probably should start sprucing up that road record, too.

[ffadicted]

Pop doesn't give a shit about regular season wins, especially not now with the health issues and so much at stake. I expect him to keep playing around and resting guys until the rodeo trip, and then kick it into high gear (basically like every other year lol)

To answer your question, yes, it helps (especially in the Finals because of the retarded format), but it's not a be-all-end-all by any means.

[Spursfan 87]

I think that homecourt is important when you play against a young team. The hornets series in 08 are the best example of that. That series could had been over easily in 5 games if we had homecourt, but instead it went to 7 and it really affected us in the lakers series because we had nothing left.

[elec99]

Good topic. Spurs team of the past? HCA not as important, but today? I think it's very important. 2 losses is the difference between number 2 seed and number 7. I guess if you don't mind facing maybe LA in the first round then it's not a big deal considering you may have to play them anyway, might as well be when you're fresh.
But I like the extra margin of error that comes with HCA. But seeing how pop needs to tinker with this new team, that's going to result in more losses in the reg season against teams we 'think' we should be getting wins over, like the Thunder.
Personally I'd like to see a higher seeding for us so that we could be 'rewarded' with an arguably easy first round playoff, then hopefully rest (so important) while other teams are killing each other. But I don't see that happening if we're going to tack on more losses to lesser teams.
I know the Thunder always gave us matchup issues in the past but when you see the clippers beat them the next game it really gets at you.

[kace]

well, let's make some stats.

to be really useful, the HCA must take part of a 7 games serie.

let's say without checking the real stats that it concerns 25 % of the games (4-0/4-1/4-2 or 4-3 as possibilities of series lenght).

still, when you come to the last game, you have to think about the series where the home team still lose and the ones where the team who win the last game at home would have win also away.

so, basically, HCA COULD be useful in 20 % of the series, without no guarantee of course that the home team wins.

Health and cohesion ARE useful in 100 % of the series.

so if you have to give away one in order to have the other, i guess the choice is easy for Pop.


The biggest problem lately is that you can't really pace a team in order to even make the PO, like last year. Really annoying to have to secure a spot in the very last games.

[TDMVPDPOY]

tims knees > hca

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

It's good to have it for at least the first round, second would be great. It can help close out early rounds quicker and keep legs fresh, but really after that the talent at the conference and NBA finals level should be such that the better team is going win no matter what.

[ElNono]

It's important. You have be able to win on the road anyways, but there's no doubt that being at home is important. Teams have evened out, so every little difference counts. And you can't deny there's some degree of home cooking always going on.

[easjer]

Turn it around - to what lengths are you willing to go to acheive homecourt advantage?

If you play Tony, Timmy and Manu frequently, they are more likely to win games because they play well together and don't have the cohesion issues that we face with RJ, Dice and Blair.

But you run a higher risk of injury and likewise a higher risk of burnout.

We had homecourt advantage last year. Where did it get us? Nowhere, because we didn't have a healthy team that was able to compete. Not the first time that has happened either - and to some extent it could not be controlled and we'll always face that risk (every team does).

It's always a balance. Win now or focus on team improvement and hope to win. There are forumlas for winning now - but they don't help in the long run and are likely to contribute negatively to the team. Keep in mind that they Spurs also learn something by losing - they learn what is not working and they retain more fire. Also, there is a reason that they have had success gearing up in latter half of the season in the past and it's because other teams are starting to burn out more and because their work on team unity has given them an edge.

Besides, it's too early to worry about seeding and HCA. ANYTHING can happen between now and say, late February, when it really starts to become more important. Kobe can break a leg and the Lakers could be out of it or a heart attack could cost Portland their coach or . . . whatever. The focus has to be on learning how to incorporate the new pieces to the best advantage of all the team. And that may result in losses while they figure out what is working and what isn't.

[raspsa]

It doesn't hurt to have the HCA. But it shouldn't be the deciding factor. Coaching and execution make the difference.

[angelbelow]

I think its a luxury to have but it doesn't determine the winners. True championship teams must be able to win on the road. With that said, you never turn down an opportunity to compete for home court but its not the deal breaker.

[SpurmzKilla]

I feel like the spurs need to get it going early and pile on the wins. Homecourt advantage has helped this team in the past and when it comes time to play the Lakers I think it could be the difference. All this talk about these early games not meaning anything seems a little short sighted to me. I feel like they're capable of winning a ton of games and the longer you wait to get it going, the more wins other teams are piling on.

Or am I wrong and home court means little to nothing for this team?


Correct. Home court or not your going down like a Mexican hooker.
Bow down to the true dynasty.

Laker Nation

[Capt Bringdown]

Going up against the Celtics and Lakers, home court is absolutely essential. Nobody beats the league/media darlings on their home court.

[duhoh]

it's only relevant never. if the team isn't good enough, they won't win.

[JustinJDW]

Homecourt Advantage is nice, but being fully healthy is much more important.

[portnoy1]

Defensive teams dont really worry about homecourt cause they play defense every game and will cause their opponent to work harder everygame. Offensive teams need the boost of their crowd, and then some nights (unlike a defensive team) you cant hit anything even your a high scoring team. So for us homecourt is kinda important, since we can score over 100pts but cant stop anybody from walking up to the basket and getting a layup.

[SouthTexasRancher]

This year it will be damn important. More so than any of the other 4 Championship years. Gonna be some damn tuff teams in this season's playoffs.

[Dice]

Correct. Home court or not your going down like a Mexican hooker.
Bow down to the true dynasty.

Laker Nation

I don't have any experience with mexican hookers. Could you ask Kobe to write down his thoughts. I imagine he's practically an expert in the field and I'd trust his description.

[Höfner]

If we don't grab a high seed, all is lost.

[Dex]

I always thought home court advantage was kind of overrated. Sure, it's great if youre invincible at home, but what team can claim that?

It's so easy to drop one home game in the playoffs, and as soon as you do that, the home court advantage that you spent all season working for has now shifted to pressure on you.

[Chieflion]

I always thought home court advantage was kind of overrated. Sure, it's great if youre invincible at home, but what team can claim that?

It's so easy to drop one home game in the playoffs, and as soon as you do that, the home court advantage that you spent all season working for has now shifted to pressure on you.
1985-1986 Celtics and 2008-2009 Cavaliers. The Celtics won the championship and you know what happened to the Cavs, they were facefucked by Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic which was a team that could have gotten the number 1 seed had Jameer Nelson stayed healthy all season.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

It's so easy to drop one home game in the playoffs, and as soon as you do that, the home court advantage that you spent all season working for has now shifted to pressure on you.

Disagree. It's not just the home court advantage, it's also the seedings that matter and better record generally means better seeding.

Let's take the 2008 playoffs as an example - all teams in the West were stacked by the end of the season, a couple of games could make huge difference in the seedings. We finished 3rd, Lakers were 1st. They had a cakewalk to the Western Finals - 4:0 against Denver and 4:1 against Utah,while we had grueling series against Phoenix and NO. So, by the time we met them we were tired and injured, while LA were rested and ready for it AND had the home court advantage, which was very important in the series. It turned out that the better seeding and the better record were a huge difference, despite the fact that seemingly a lot of teams were evenly good.

During our 4 title runs, the Spurs had HCA in all but 2 of the series, including in all 4 finals. HCA is even more important in the Finals,because of the format, as stats prove. For the past 20 years how many teams have won the title, while not having HCA? I can only think of Houston in 1995 ( damn them bastards! ).

Of course health is more important, but to dismiss the record and HCA as insignificant in a title run, is going against serious odds and against history.

[nkdlunch]

at this point, the Spurs need to worry about making the playoffs, playing as a team and staying healthy. home court is the last of the worries.

[Whisky Dog]

Home court adv isn't much, getting a top seed and getting a weaker 1st round opp is what's important. Need an easy 1st round.

[easjer]

Disagree. It's not just the home court advantage, it's also the seedings that matter and better record generally means better seeding.


The problem with this theory is that it assumes that seeding is an accurate reflection of differences between teams; it assumes that a first seeded team is necessarily better than an eighth seeded team.

But that is not necessarily so, especially these days in the West. For instance, regardless of record, the division winner will take no lower than the fourth slot, even if they would otherwise be ranked seventh or eighth (or possibly not even make the playoffs in truly awful divisions). Last year there were only a handful of games separating first from ninth (or out of the playoffs completely). It was changing daily and was tight until the end of the regular season.

It could be argued that the Spurs might have advanced if the finals games had caused seeding differences and they drew a different team. If you'll recall, there was a three way split going into a game that decided whether or not the Spurs would take the third seed or the sixth seed.

The ideal seed is great, but you can't control that anyway. And lower seeds certainly beat higher seeds. The point is that you can't sacrifice health and team unity for better placement, especially in freaking NOVEMBER, because it won't matter in the end where you are placed if you can't play to your best ability. Landing the three slot last year meant shit for the Spurs because they weren't healthy and weren't capable of competing. Not having home-court against the Suns in '05 didn't matter because they were the superior team.

[fmedrano1977]

Home court, though nice, it's really more important to a young team than it is to a seasoned vet team like the Spurs.

[Bukefal]

It is, not the most important, but it is important, because playing at home gives you that extra touch of motivation you need to win a game.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

Home court is not all that important. In fact it can be argued that starting on the road may be better for a team that has it's stuff together and is mature and workmanlike. (Like the Spurs). Why? Because all the pressure is on the home team to win the first 2 games.

If the visitors "steal" one game, especially if it's Game 1, then they immediately gain a huge advantage. They've turned HCA around so that they can win it on their homecourt in Game 6. Plus they've shown that they can beat the other team in their house.

Furthermore, if a low seed team beats a high seed team in the first round, they essentially take over the high seed spot too! For example if a 7 beats a 2, they get to play the 3 seed in the 2nd round. So this is a really good way for a team who's underperformed in the regular season to essentially steal a much better seed than they deserve. (Some leagues reseed after each round, or have byes and wild cards, to avoid this glitch in the system, but not the NBA.)

The reason this doesn't happen all that often is that the seedings usually reflect how good the teams actually are. So the home team is usually the better team. But, if you have a team that's started slow due to injuries or team chemistry or whatever, then picks up steam in the playoffs, it can be very good to start from a low seed.

[quentin_compson]

The problem with this theory is that it assumes that seeding is an accurate reflection of differences between teams; it assumes that a first seeded team is necessarily better than an eighth seeded team.

But that is not necessarily so, especially these days in the West. For instance, regardless of record, the division winner will take no lower than the fourth slot, even if they would otherwise be ranked seventh or eighth (or possibly not even make the playoffs in truly awful divisions). Last year there were only a handful of games separating first from ninth (or out of the playoffs completely). It was changing daily and was tight until the end of the regular season.


True, but seeding is irrelevant when it comes to HCA, as it is decided by the record.

[Capt Bringdown]

During our 4 title runs, the Spurs had HCA in all but 2 of the series, including in all 4 finals. HCA is even more important in the Finals,because of the format, as stats prove. For the past 20 years how many teams have won the title, while not having HCA? I can only think of Houston in 1995 ( damn them bastards! ).

Of course health is more important, but to dismiss the record and HCA as insignificant in a title run, is going against serious odds and against history.

You nailed it. Those are the facts, to suggest otherwise seems like little else than deluded fanboy wishful thinking.
Champions fight hard for HCA because they know how absolutely essential it is to winning a title.