Written by Matt Zemek at Bloguin
Home sweet home? In Cleveland and Oakland, yes… but not in many other places.
The NBA we see today is not a place where home-court dates lead to happy fans leaving an arena’s gates. This is not a new revelation. However, the extent to which the young season has reaffirmed this truth might come as a bit of a surprise.
On this, the afternoon of November 10, most NBA teams have played six or seven games. Nine is the high end (Atlanta at 7-2) and five is the low end (Boston at 2-3), but most teams have played six or seven games, maybe eight. That’s not a whole lot. Given the balance between home and road dates, most teams have not played six or seven home games, but they’ve certainly played more than two, with a few exceptions.
Yet, here we are: Just two weeks into the season — we have about 75 of these puppies left, folks — only two teams with more than two home games under their belts are still unblemished in their own buildings. Those two teams happen to be the participants in the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.
We are conditioned to think — and it’s not even wrong, either — that the best teams win on the road. Winning at home is supposed to be easier (and it is), but it’s not THAT much easier. In many ways, it could be that the best teams erect a fortress at home instead of (merely) being moderately good.
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