Court Advantages?? (Serious Question)

[Thomas82]

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier about LaMarcus Aldridge's first game in Portland as an opponent coming up Wednesday. My friend said that LA should get off in that game because he knows the Blazers' court and is already used to their rims. I also remember a couple of years ago when LeBron was still in Miami, he said he knew the court in Cleveland and that would be an advantage for him.

My question is: How do you get to know a court and get adjusted to rims? To an outsider like me, the only thing that's different about every court is the floor design. Every court is 94 feet and every basket is 10 feet high. I'm asking because I really don't know.

[SAGirl]

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier about LaMarcus Aldridge's first game in Portland as an opponent coming up Wednesday. My friend said that LA should get off in that game because he knows the Blazers' court and is already used to their rims. I also remember a couple of years ago when LeBron was still in Miami, he said he knew the court in Cleveland and that would be an advantage for him.

My question is: How do you get to know a court and get adjusted to rims? To an outsider like me, the only thing that's different about every court is the floor design. Every court is 94 feet and every basket is 10 feet high. I'm asking because I really don't know.

I am not sure, but an issue was made by the press after the Suns game in preseason, that Lamarcus stayed in the court for about 1 1/2 hours just shooting the basketball.

The press asked him about it a day or two after, and he mentioned precisely the home court advantage and getting to know the court.

I suppose its psychological, feeling familiar. Sort of like staying in your own house and in your own bed, instead of staying in a hotel in a public bed pretty much.

[Thomas82]

I am not sure, but an issue was made by the press after the Suns game in preseason, that Lamarcus stayed in the court for about 1 1/2 hours just shooting the basketball.

The press asked him about it a day or two after, and he mentioned precisely the home court advantage and getting to know the court.

I suppose its psychological, feeling familiar. Sort of like staying in your own house and in your own bed, instead of staying in a hotel in a public bed pretty much.

Thanks.....this helps put it in perspective.

[Spurtacular]

Rim settings are different in various courts. Some rims are "softer." The most prominent example of this is the 1980's Boston Garden.

[DeRozan m8]

Yeh it's mainly the hardness/softness...obvs softer rims have some give, where as harder ones the balls can fly around a bit more and it's generally harder to score.

They actually talked about it a bit last week against new york as the MSG rims were hard as and we started off shooting in the 30 percents

[Hoops Czar]

Yeh it's mainly the hardness/softness...obvs softer rims have some give, where as harder ones the balls can fly around a bit more and it's generally harder to score.

They actually talked about it a bit last week against new york as the MSG rims were hard as and we started off shooting in the 30 percents

While true that visitors and hosts compete on the same baskets, all 18 inches in diameter, the prevailing wisdom remains – the home team is accustomed to its own bounce. So if the feel differs from city to city, it’s a perceived disadvantage to the visitors.
Christopher Arena, the NBA’s vice president of apparel and sporting goods, said every rim is thoroughly tested and measured. A contractor named Drew Sorensen travels to all 30 NBA arenas in the preseason to set each rim. Sorensen uses something called the ERTG Rim Tester, which measures the “rim flex,” a computation based on energy absorption. A weight is dropped from each rim and a tiny microprocessor calculates the flex. The higher the rim-flex number, the softer the bounce, and the more likely your shot will roll in when maybe it shouldn’t have.
Each NBA team is required to buy new rims at the outset of every season – new backboards must be purchased every five seasons – and the league mandates a rim-flex reading of 20 to 35. Once Sorensen signs off on the measurements, he theoretically locks that number in place for the season by placing pieces of tape over the brackets that connect the rim to the backboard brace. Those pieces of tape each have a seal with holographic imagery. If a visiting team were to complain about the flex, the NBA can “go to the tape” to discover whether the rim has been illegally altered.
Sorensen returns to each arena once during the regular season, once during each playoff round and then resets the rims for every NBA Finals game.

I think Pau Gasol sums it up best.....

Los Angeles Lakers big man Pau Gasol doesn’t see the inconsistencies in the rims which some other players see. The biggest difference in arenas, Gasol said, is the court. The league allows teams to use multiple suppliers for its hardwood floors, and the batches can feel very different.
“At the end of the day, there are little things in arenas that favor the home teams because of their familiarity with them,” Gasol said. “But, in general, usually the better team wins.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-nbarims110608

[Fireball]

Its not only psychological ... it helps if the surroundings of the basket are the same from a three dimensional point of view. After dozens and dozens of games in your home arena its kind of as if you feel where you are on the court and your shot goes off automatically.

I normally played inside with a wall behind the basket ... when I suddenly had to play outside and there was clear space behind the basket, it totally threw me off. So although there are less differences in the several arenas its the little things that count.

[Thomas82]

Thanks for the good info everybody!!

[DeRozan m8]

Its not only psychological ... it helps if the surroundings of the basket are the same from a three dimensional point of view. After dozens and dozens of games in your home arena its kind of as if you feel where you are on the court and your shot goes off automatically.

I normally played inside with a wall behind the basket ... when I suddenly had to play outside and there was clear space behind the basket, it totally threw me off. So although there are less differences in the several arenas its the little things that count.

Yeah this is definitely a thing, I hate turning up to a court with terrible feng shui and

I reckon the Magic court looks like it'd be terrible to play on, gross looking thing.