Home Court Advantage

Home court advantage is supposed to be just that – an advantage for the home team. Through one and a half rounds of this year’s playoffs, however, the advantage has been nearly impossible to overcome.

To say that road teams are struggling would be an understatement. After winning just 32 percent of their first round games, road teams are just 1-15 in round two. The lone win was a 90-89 nail biter for Detroit over Orlando.

In fact, the Pistons are the only team with a winning record on the road in this postseason. Detroit went 2-1 at Philadelphia and split its first two games at Orlando. With a 2-2 road record, the Los Angeles Lakers actually have the second best road winning percentage in the playoffs. The other six teams left playing are sub-.500 on the road in the playoffs.

Utah was the only team to win a series without home court advantage in the postseason so far. In a year when the West’s top six teams were separated by just two games, it’s amazing how much home court has factored into postseason success.

Of course, no one is enjoying home cooking more than the Jekyll and Hyde Celtics right now. Boston is 6-0 at home and 0-5 on the road. The good news for the Celtics, though, is that if they take care of business in Beantown, their road woes won’t better. Boston’s league-high 66 wins means they have home court advantage throughout the playoffs. And that seems to mean a lot this year.

If the current pace holds, it will be the highest winning percentage since 1990, when home teams went 54-18.