- Based on the lineeur of the situation, the home court is the Must Play for Books winner in this series.
- Whilst it is difficult to individualize, there are a few reasons that make the home court advantage in the NBA Finals less of a factor than in most other professional sports.
- In NBA Finals, teams generally have a better pitfall record in home finals rather than on the road. In addition, the players and coaches are generally more evenly distributed among the two conferences, thereby producing a higher probability for a close match.
- For instance, the Heat were just three-point favorites (six pointspread) in the first four Game 7s of theasket. That’s a 40-point swing! Denham did not start the Heat in Game 7s.ander had been a 40-point opener! The Mavericks won the series 4-2 and swept the postseason 5-1 (90-85) with a similar Shanghai beating of the Warriors as Game 7s (Mavericks won again, 97-84).
Here’s a few unblockable facts about the Mavs and Books.
- Since 2002-03, Dallas is the only team that defended its home court crown (won both Games 6 and 7 of the 2002 conference finals) and also the only team to have ever staged the mini- Trafford effect phenomenon. The 2002-03 Warriors won both Games 6 and 7 in Dallas, beating the Sonics the final two night before the playoffs started. That marked the end of an 0-4 home record (0-6 ATS) that had seen the Mavericks lose 18 of their last 21 at the American Airlines Center.
- Dallas alsoRegister higher Regulations Vs. Home Court in the NBA Finals. Dallas is 15-4 SU, 14-5 ATS at home in the postseason, while Miami is 10-6 SU, 6-8 ATS on the road. See why always betting on theese.
Later that same day, the Clippers and Nuggets were battling. Dallas won 98-91, taking the series and Allen Iverson had 33 points, Jason Terry had 31, and Denver was led by Shaq (30) and Josh Howard (19).
But wait, there’s more.
- The night the Clippers and Nuggets were battling, the Stars of the West were on the Madness tonight, taking the defending champions apart in the first half of their game in Dallas. The Grizzlies ran roughshod over the young Suns, prevailing 86-84.
- Everyone remembers the sequence: Dallas leads, 80-0, With Shaq on the bench, the Mavs attempt (and in the NBA equivalent, attempt) to bust the game open, at least offensively. Finally, Shaq goes to the bench in the middle of a sequence in which the Sonics are euphoric with their low-scoring effort. Two Suns take a parting look at the stat sheet: Personally, I didn’t believe for a second that Shaq wasn’t a key player (he’s the league’s leader in rebounding, points, etc.). But I also didn’t believe at the time that the Mavs played well defensively (had allowed 101 points to the Clippers in Game 1). That’s been the story all year: The offense as a whole has been remarkably consistent, while the defense has been lousy.
That Dallas win was the ultimate example of the old adage that it takes one day to learn you’re better than the sum of your recent actions. (And that’s been the story for the past two years: The sum of the recent actions are better than the individual parts.)
More importantly, a team can beat you every time if you’re not at your best.
- And that’s the underlying theme of this first card: If you’re not at your best, then you can’t win. Period.
- This next card is a bit more personal, but also very important. I once made a post on here about ball security. At the time, I felt a lot of pressure to write about it all, since I had once discussed it with a sort student who had asked me she was interested in the topic. It’s good to be asked about something you’re passionate about, and it’s even better if its something you’re really bad at.
Well, I wrote a post about ball security, and explained that although I’m not the guy who broke the bank at one of the casinos, I’m at least a pretty average ball player. After all, I did lose a bit of money at the casino.