Is it even fair?

[ingridm]

Can someone please tell me why is it that we are playing 3 games in a row at Detroit??

[SWC Bonfire]

Because God hates Mouse and He's punishing us all...:lol

[ALVAREZ6]

I think the 2,3,2 format is an advantage for the team without the "Home Court Advantage."

Think about it, the first game in a series is always the easiest one to steal, since they didn't adapt and make adjustments yet because of the fact that it's the first game...

If the road team steals one of the first two, then they have 3 in a row at home.

That's bullshit.

[bigzak25]

so we could shake the frontrunners off the team's fanbase...

wasn't it orignally because of the media and everyone having to travel cross country back and forth, so they did this to make the travel issues less of a burden?

fair or not, it is what it is. i'm glad we got the last 2 at home, so i'm not complaining.

[MadDog73]

For the love of....

Look, of course it's fair!

We still play 2 games in a row in SA. Piston fans can Bitch about that, too.

Bottom line, we don't need to win in Detroit (but we should be able to).

[JamStone]

Since the NBA implemented the 2-3-2 format, no home team has swept the middle three games until Detroit did it last year. It has hardly been an advantage according to history.

[samikeyp]

Good point.

[totalspurshomer]

Yes, it was done for the benefit of media and all those other extra hangers on who have to travel back and forth.

I strongly disagree with ALVAREZ6, though. I've always found it extremely unfair to the NON-homecourt team. If they don't breakthrough on the road in game 1 or 2, then they're pretty much forced to win 3 in a row at home AND then still have to win 1 of the final 2 on the road. This is exactly the scenario Detroit has had to battle. Not easy at all.

Even if the road team wins game 1 or 2, it's extremely difficult to go home and win 3 in a row to close out a favored team. The likelihood is that the favored team would win at least 1 of those 3 and come back home for the last two. A huge advantage.

Just look at the Pistons. At best, they win game 5, but still have to beat the Spurs once in SA. Meantime, the Spurs would be left with no excuse if they come home up 3-2 with two chances to close out, both at home. Even if the Spurs come home down 3-2, they have little room for pity with both games at home.

This format sucks for the team without homecourt advantage. It makes it twice as hard for them to prevail. The league needs to change it to 2-2-1-1-1. It works fine in every other round.

[beer_is_proof]

All things considered, as a spurs fan, being down 3 -2 won't you be happy having the last 2 games at home?

Of course, what will the mental state of your team be?

Meltdown...there is precedence

[WayDowntownBang]

I think the 2,3,2 format is an advantage for the team without the "Home Court Advantage."

Think about it, the first game in a series is always the easiest one to steal, since they didn't adapt and make adjustments yet because of the fact that it's the first game...

If the road team steals one of the first two, then they have 3 in a row at home.

That's bullshit.

2-3-2 gives you a chance to go 2-0 (check.)
2-3-2 gives you the last two games at your house.

I'm MUCH rather be going to SA for Game 5, and try to steal one while we got the momenteum, and have Game 6 in Detroit. No advantage for the Pistons that I see.

[MadDog73]

All things considered, as a spurs fan, being down 3 -2 won't you be happy having the last 2 games at home?

Of course, what will the mental state of your team be?

Meltdown...there is precedence


It's about the only thing giving me hope right now.

That somehow, if all else fails, the Spurs will just magically return to their Championship self at Home.

And, although it's true the Spurs lost 4 in a row after being up 2 against the Lakers, it was not like this at all. Assuming we lose Game 5 (NOOOOOO!) Game 6 will be in SA, unlike last year.

Actually, thinking of the Spurs last year strangely gives me hope. They played a Hell of a Game 5, with a lucky 0.4 second shot ruining their playoff run. While it's certainly possible that could happen again, I like the Spurs chances in a close game. And even a Close Loss in Detroit may help the Spurs rebound for Games 6 and 7.

Either way, Detroit still has to win in SA, something they haven't done for like 10 years!

[Rummpd]

The 2,3,2 Finals System is it an Advantage to the Road Team?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Peter Rumm, MD
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jun 14, 2005, 23:18


http://www.hoopsworld.com/member/article_13066.shtml (Subscription side)


Is the 2,3,2 format, which the NBA went to in 1985, an actual advantage to the initial road team?

Bill Walton on ABC during the 2nd game of the series stated that if the Spurs had lost the 2nd game all the pressure would fall on them since Detroit would most likely be favored in games 3-5 in this format. He cited Detroit's home playoff record (7 - 2) this year as one of the reasons for confidence and the Spurs road playoff record (which actually is not bad at 5-2 this year so far). He also cited Detroit's regular season road record of 36 and 5 which was second to the Spurs home regular season of 38 and 3 record and claimed that the Palace was the "toughest place to play in the NBA".

Quick question, Bill why did San Antonio (despite Duncan's injury) have a superior record at the SBC Center and have lost only once in the playoffs there?

Back to the point - how much pressure was really on the Spurs to win game II based on history?

The current finals system, which is obviously set up to help travel for the press, is seemingly an unfair burden to a home team to protect their hard earned home court advantage.

To me it also takes away from the excitement of alternating sites for games 5 - 7 (and takes away the possiblity of winning by the top seeded team on their home court in game 5.)

Michael Jordan weighed in on this in 1997 (according to a story found at www.slam.canoe.ca)and said this going into a match up with the Jazz with Bulls holding initial "home court": "The Bulls realize how crucial it is to protect their home court during the first two games against the Utah Jazz. That's because the next three are scheduled for Salt Lake City under the 2-3-2 finals setup. "It's tough," Michael Jordan said. "It puts the onus on the first two games. You lose one game and lose the home court advantage, you've got to play out there in Utah three straight games, where they've only lost three games. We have to take care of our business here at home. It's a tough way to live."

On the other hand, Coach Phil Jackson has seen the setup work both ways. "The first year we were in the finals, we lost the first game and all of a sudden it was panic time, and then we won the next four," Jackson recalls of the 1991 title series against the Los Angeles Lakers".

Despite Michael's and others view on the potential unfairness of the situation, any disadvantage may in fact not be as big as expected. A nice synopsis on why this is so was found on Answer.com:

"Some observers maintain that the advantage accruing to the higher-ranked team is greater under the 2-2-1-1-1 format than under the 2-3-2 format, since in the former case the higher-finishing team will have never played fewer home games than its opponent at any point in the series, while in the latter the lower team has three of the first five games at home, and can win the series in its stadium if the teams had split the first two games.

However, this may not be as helpful to the lower-finishing team as it appears. In the NBA Finals, only one time in 19 years has the home team for games 3-5 won all three, but it was last year Pistons. In fact, the road team has swept these three games (for instance, 1990, 1991, 2001)."

Also, according to Whowins.co, if a team does what the Spurs did during the last 20 years in any seven series in the playoffs, i.e., winning the first two games, the home team has gone on to win 20/22 times (90.9%).

That is not to say the Pistons could not win all three games and make it a series (remember they are the exception!); but statistically the Spurs must be feeling pretty good about things and should win the series based on not just these stats, but also due to their domination of games one and two at home

[Rummpd]

See above = not as confident though as when wrote article.