Home Court Advantage

[Tai]

I'm sure all of us would feel better if the Celtics had homecourt, but it's a bit much to say that the only way they get Banner 18 is if they have HCA, and anything less means they have no chance. Didn't we beat Orlando in their house TWICE to start off that series, last season? Didn't we KILL Cleveland TWICE in their house?

Even in our Banner #17 year against the Pistons, back when we were convinced the Celtics couldn't win a road game...didn't they beat them TWICE in Detroit AFTER dropping a HOME game? And in the NBA Finals against the Lakers....24-point come back to ultimately win in STAPLES? What more do I have to say?

No matter how you spin it, these Celtics have more than proven that they can win a playoff game on the road. And ultimately, they will probably have to this season. If they're truly as good as we hype them up to be (if they're reasonably healthy), they should have no problem competing on the road in the playoffs, if not winning.

[Marcus13]

The Bulls play soo much better at home than on the road that it'd  be nice to have.  Their lack of a 2-guard should make them beatable tho regardless.

No way are we beating Miami or LA without HCA tho

We've beaten Miami three times (twice in Florida, if I recall correctly) this season and we split the series vs. LA, winning in Los Angeles. That should speak for itself, really.

But it really doesn't.  Half of our roster has changed since those wins

  Aside from Perk, it was pretty much the half that didn't play. Is changing Quis/Semih/Luke/Nate for Green/Sasha/Arroyo/Murphy going to kill our chances of winning?

Kill?  Of course not.  damge?  Idk, possibly.  Please go look at the points off the bench the last few games.  Green exploded once, but we have been getting 10-15 points off the bench outside of that...that's not going to cut it.

And I'm NOT saying our bench doesn't have the ability to do more...it just isn't at this time.  Once BBD/West/Shaq, and even Wafer who can provide a spark get back it should help greatly if they can stay healthy

[BballTim]

The Bulls play soo much better at home than on the road that it'd  be nice to have.  Their lack of a 2-guard should make them beatable tho regardless.

No way are we beating Miami or LA without HCA tho

We've beaten Miami three times (twice in Florida, if I recall correctly) this season and we split the series vs. LA, winning in Los Angeles. That should speak for itself, really.

But it really doesn't.  Half of our roster has changed since those wins

  Aside from Perk, it was pretty much the half that didn't play. Is changing Quis/Semih/Luke/Nate for Green/Sasha/Arroyo/Murphy going to kill our chances of winning?

Kill?  Of course not.  damge?  Idk, possibly.  Please go look at the points off the bench the last few games.  Green exploded once, but we have been getting 10-15 points off the bench outside of that...that's not going to cut it.

And I'm NOT saying our bench doesn't have the ability to do more...it just isn't at this time.  Once BBD/West/Shaq, and even Wafer who can provide a spark get back it should help greatly if they can stay healthy

  Were we getting more than 10-15 a game from Quis/Semih/Luke/Nate? We didn't trade Baby, we didn't trade West or Shaq or even Wafer.

[Green Hell]

Does no one remember what happened last year?

This team cannot, did not, and will not be able to beat the Lakers in a 7 game series without HCA.

[droopdog7]

This team cannot beat the Lakers without HCA again, im sorry. Lets not underestimate how good they are.

  Disagree.

How so?

The team with HCA wins the finals something like 74% of the time.

Thats huge. To brush that off as nothing would be ignorant.

We need HCA. Period. Point Blank. We have 20 games left, Lakers are 3 games behind us in the loss column. These last 20 games determine the title hopes.

  So, are you saying that we can't beat any team in the playoffs (or the Finals) without HCA?

Not to answer for Megatron but what I am saying is that the lakers are at worst even with us and perhaps slightly better.  On a neutral court, it might be a dead heat. 

Make no mistake, HCA would be HUGE is such a series were to take place.  It was the deciding factor last year and more than likely would be the same this year.

[BballTim]

This team cannot beat the Lakers without HCA again, im sorry. Lets not underestimate how good they are.

  Disagree.

How so?

The team with HCA wins the finals something like 74% of the time.

Thats huge. To brush that off as nothing would be ignorant.

We need HCA. Period. Point Blank. We have 20 games left, Lakers are 3 games behind us in the loss column. These last 20 games determine the title hopes.

  So, are you saying that we can't beat any team in the playoffs (or the Finals) without HCA?

Not to answer for Megatron but what I am saying is that the lakers are at worst even with us and perhaps slightly better.  On a neutral court, it might be a dead heat. 

Make no mistake, HCA would be HUGE is such a series were to take place.  It was the deciding factor last year and more than likely would be the same this year.

  Now they might be even with us, I'd hope we'll have another center back and be slightly more cohesive than we are now by the playoffs though.

[Fafnir]

This team cannot beat the Lakers without HCA again, im sorry. Lets not underestimate how good they are.

  Disagree.

How so?

The team with HCA wins the finals something like 74% of the time.

Thats huge. To brush that off as nothing would be ignorant.

We need HCA. Period. Point Blank. We have 20 games left, Lakers are 3 games behind us in the loss column. These last 20 games determine the title hopes.

  So, are you saying that we can't beat any team in the playoffs (or the Finals) without HCA?

Not to answer for Megatron but what I am saying is that the lakers are at worst even with us and perhaps slightly better.  On a neutral court, it might be a dead heat. 

Make no mistake, HCA would be HUGE is such a series were to take place.  It was the deciding factor last year and more than likely would be the same this year.

You know what this brought to mind, the research done that refs have a home team bias when said home team is trailing in a game.

It apparently shows up in soccer injury time, basketball, and other sports. Given the Lakers were clawing their way back from a big deficit primarily at the foul line, then yes HCA is a big deal.

I don't think a C's victory is impossible without it, but it'd help.

[Assassin70]

Does no one remember what happened last year?

This team cannot, did not, and will not be able to beat the Lakers in a 7 game series without HCA.

I remember.  Do you?  I remember we had the game in control going in to the forth, and had many chances to win that game... had our offense and rebounding not failed us.  Did we win...no.

But sorry because we weren't on our home floor was not the deciding factor.

I want HCA like eveyone else.  But I actually think because of last year...if we get put in that same situation we win this time.  Put that in your memory banks and be sure to give me credit later.

[GreenEnvy]

The Celtics need to be healthy, just like every other team.

They, unlike most teams, can win anywhere, anytime.

Nice luxury to have, but not mandatory to win a championship.

Like last season, I'd sacrifice games now to get healthy for the real season.

[droponov]

The Celtics need to be healthy, just like every other team.

They, unlike most teams, can win anywhere, anytime.

Nice luxury to have, but not mandatory to win a championship.

Like last season, I'd sacrifice games now to get healthy for the real season.

Agreed. Relatively unimportant luxury in my view. This team is too old and experienced to benefit much from HCA.

[Jon]

While last year clearly proved that we didn't need to absolutely have homecourt advantage to win, having the #1 seed would be a huge benefit not only from the homecourt advantage perspective, but also from who we play in the first round. 

With the #1 seed, we'd play the rather uninspiring Pacers (or Bobcats or Bucks).  With the #2 or #3 seed we could get stuck playing the up and coming Sixers or the Knicks. 

Now while I think we can beat either team, we might have to put up a bit of a fight.  With any of the #8 seed options, it'd likely give us 4-5 additional games to gel together without having to seriously worry about blowing a series. 

[ACF]

This team cannot beat the Lakers without HCA again, im sorry. Lets not underestimate how good they are.

  Disagree.

How so?

The team with HCA wins the finals something like 74% of the time.

Thats huge. To brush that off as nothing would be ignorant.

We need HCA. Period. Point Blank. We have 20 games left, Lakers are 3 games behind us in the loss column. These last 20 games determine the title hopes.

  So, are you saying that we can't beat any team in the playoffs (or the Finals) without HCA?

Not to answer for Megatron but what I am saying is that the lakers are at worst even with us and perhaps slightly better.  On a neutral court, it might be a dead heat. 

Make no mistake, HCA would be HUGE is such a series were to take place.  It was the deciding factor last year and more than likely would be the same this year.

Personally, I think if we win the Magic series in one less game, we don't run out of gas in game 7(which was essentially what happened)

[raynman]

I'm sure all of us would feel better if the Celtics had homecourt, but it's a bit much to say that the only way they get Banner 18 is if they have HCA, and anything less means they have no chance. Didn't we beat Orlando in their house TWICE to start off that series, last season? Didn't we KILL Cleveland TWICE in their house?

Even in our Banner #17 year against the Pistons, back when we were convinced the Celtics couldn't win a road game...didn't they beat them TWICE in Detroit AFTER dropping a HOME game? And in the NBA Finals against the Lakers....24-point come back to ultimately win in STAPLES? What more do I have to say?

No matter how you spin it, these Celtics have more than proven that they can win a playoff game on the road. And ultimately, they will probably have to this season. If they're truly as good as we hype them up to be (if they're reasonably healthy), they should have no problem competing on the road in the playoffs, if not winning.

It's not much of a big deal in the early rounds but it's much harder to win a the finals series without homecourt advantage because of the 2-3-2 format.. Remember the last 2 teams that won the championship without HCA (det, mia)? They had to win those 3 middle games at home. They showed it was possible but that's a very tall order. The C's can easily steal one or two games on the road but when Game 7 comes, it's a whole different story.

[GreenNote]

I just checked the Cs' schedule vs Chicago's and they have an easier set of games to finish the season. I have a feeling they will end up with the 1st seed and that we will most likely get the 2nd seed or 3rd if things get tough.

The only thing to watch out for now is the Lakers' record. Obviously the celtics still have one less loss than the bulls at the moment but it might take out too much out of them to desperately try to win every single game just to secure the 1st spot.

What are your thoughts?

[RebusRankin]

We do have the season series right now on Chicago but that April 7 game is huge. We also have the conference record on them too.