Table of Content
- Game Recap: Warriors 107, Celtics 97
- Wrapping Things Up: Home Court Advantage in the NBA Playoffs
- How Important Is Home-Court Advantage in the NBA Finals?
- GAME 3: CELTICS 116, WARRIORS 100
- Stephen Curry 'wins' while his team loses
- What Does In 6 Mean in Basketball?
- Film Room: What can Tatum, Celtics learn from loss?
After starting nine consecutive games, Iguodala missed the deciding Game 4 with a sore left calf injury from Game 3. Curry averaged a series career-high 36.5 points, the highest average by a player in a four-game sweep in NBA history. This was Golden State's fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, and they were aiming to be the first since the Shaq and Kobe-led Los Angeles Lakers to win 3-peat titles.
The Celtics are 7-2 on the road so far this year, so they're perfectly comfortable playing outside of TD Garden. Stephen Curry will be capable no matter where he plays, but for young players like Poole and Wiggins, being at home could be a huge boon. The NBA Finals are set, with the Golden State Warriors seeking their seventh NBA championship and the Boston Celtics looking for their 18th, which would pull them ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers for the most all time.
Game Recap: Warriors 107, Celtics 97
The Raptors had 58 victories to edge out the Warriors’ 57 wins during the regular season, meaning Golden State will start the first two games of the NBA finals on the road. ESPN, TNT, ABC, and NBA TV broadcast the playoffs nationally in the United States. During the first two rounds, games were split between TNT, ESPN, and ABC regardless of conference.
In the playoffs, Golden State defeated the Clippers in six games in the first round, despite blowing leads at home in Games 2 and 5. Cousins tore his left quadriceps in Game 2, and was initially thought to be out for the remainder of the postseason. With the Splash Brothers—Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson—struggling with their shooting, Durant had been the team's best player in the playoffs, averaging a team-leading 35.4 points entering Game 5. However, Durant left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a strained right calf; he was later ruled out indefinitely. Led by Curry and Thompson, Golden State pulled out Game 5 without Durant, and won the series in six games. In the Western Conference Finals, Golden State swept the Portland Trail Blazers 4–0, with three of the wins including comebacks of 15 points or more.
Wrapping Things Up: Home Court Advantage in the NBA Playoffs
Portland clinched #3 seed over Houston based on 2–1 head-to-head record. Brooklyn clinched #6 seed over Orlando based on 2–1 head-to-head record. The Toronto Raptors advanced on to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. All of the top seeds won the first round for the first time since 2008. In a big moment, with the Warriors needing a big play to get back into the game -- and the Finals -- with Drake in his face and the guy he'd called out in his sights, Draymond Green did not combust.
That’s why delving into the statistics is the most solid tangible proof of why home court advantage in the NBA playoffs is important. Before going into the win-loss record of home teams in the NBA playoffs, let’s take a look at the home teams’ record in the regular season. Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualified for the playoffs.
How Important Is Home-Court Advantage in the NBA Finals?
TSN also reported that Game 6 had an 82 percent share of viewers in the Toronto–Hamilton market—which it stated to be the highest in the region for a sports broadcast outside of the Olympic Games, summer or winter. Game 6's ratings in the United States were slightly higher over Game 5, with 18.34 million. Lowry scored 11 of his points in the first two-plus minutes of the contest.
When you’re playing at home, you play in front of thousands of adoring fans. You sleep on your own bed, and the familiarity game is in your favor. There is a reason why home fans are often referred to as the “sixth man.” These madmen exert a lot of influence in the game. The Celtics bucked home court advantage in the last series, and they'll look to do so again to secure their record-setting 18th title.
Top Finals moments: Allen's big 3 turns tide for Heat
Game three became the second playoff game in NBA history to go into quadruple-overtime, joining a 1953 game between the Boston Celtics and Syracuse Nationals. Kawhi Leonard joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win Finals MVP with more than one team, and became the first Finals MVP winner from both conferences. The Celtics advanced 10 straight times, winning nine, including eight consecutive. Game 6 further exceeded these numbers with an average of 7.7 million. TSN publicized that a total of 15.9 million unique viewers watched some point of the telecast, and 9.99 million were watching during the final minute.
The top four teams in the East and West have a home court advantage over their opponents. The team with the higher seed is going to have the home court advantage in the succeeding rounds. The No. 1 team in the regular season gets the home court advantage all throughout.
By contrast, with 10.77 million U.S. viewers, Game 1 was the second lowest-rated NBA Finals game in the U.S. after the 2020 NBA Finals. In the Warriors' home market, ratings were also lower in comparison to its past Game 1 appearances. Celtics fend off Warriors, take 2-1 series lead Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combine for 53 points as Boston withstands Golden State's 3rd-quarter rally and 31 from Steph Curry to win Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Green's undeniable energy fuels another title run Golden State's big man remains the perfect balance to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the trio's impressive run of 4 championships in 8 seasons.
With that being said, home court advantage may be a little tricky to evaluate, especially in the playoffs. We all know the better teams record-wise secure the better seedings, which means these top tier teams are playing more at home than on the road in the playoffs. But then again, that should not depreciate the importance of the home court advantage in the NBA playoffs. There’s a reason why home teams win almost 70% of the time in the NBA playoffs. Let’s dig more in-depth about the home court advantage in the NBA playoffs. Damian Lillard scored 50 points in Game 5 and finished off the series by hitting a 37-foot three at the buzzer to break a 115–115 tie, sending the Blazers through to the Conference Semifinals.
The Raptors lost Game 1 of the first round to the Orlando Magic, but then they won the next four games in a row and won the series in five games. Toronto advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite trailing 2–0, the Raptors won the next four games to advance to the Finals in six games, as Leonard outplayed the Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won league MVP that season.
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