Okay, so, I’ve been digging into this whole “home-court advantage” thing in the NBA, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride.
First off, I started by just watching a bunch of games. You know, just casually observing if the home teams seemed to win more often. And yeah, they totally did. But I wanted to know why.
So, I hit the internet, reading everything I could find. There’s this study from Harvard, back in 2008, that talked about how teams that rested more before a game tended to win more. Makes sense, right? You’re more likely to play well if you’re not dead tired from traveling.
- Then I stumbled upon this definition of home-court advantage from some guys named Carron, or something in 2005. They basically said that home teams win more than half of their games when the schedule is balanced. And in the NBA, each team plays 41 games at home and 41 on the road.
- Diving deeper, I found that over the past five years, when home teams made more 3-pointers, they won a whopping 71% of the time! When the visiting team made more 3-pointers, the visiting teams only won 62% of the time. It seems there’s some real magic happening on that home court!
But it’s not just about rest and 3-pointers. Apparently, as of the end of the 2022 season, home teams are winning around 60% of the games. That’s a big deal!
Now, here’s where it gets even more interesting. In the NBA Playoffs, this home-court advantage becomes even more significant. I learned that it’s not just some random thing – it’s actually built into the system.
- In the first three rounds of the playoffs, the team with the higher seed gets the home-court advantage. I guess that’s one way to reward the teams that did better during the regular season.
But here’s the kicker, I found out that in the NBA Finals, it’s not about the seeding. They have a whole different way of determining who gets the home-court advantage in the finals. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that part. I have to research it later.
Anyway, I also learned that they measure the value of the home-court advantage, which they shorten to “HCA”, and it is valued at around 3-5 points in the NBA! I even saw that someone was asking online how to calculate it. I might try to figure that out later too.
So, yeah, that’s where I’m at with this whole home-court advantage thing. It’s way more complex than I initially thought, and I’m still piecing it all together. But it’s definitely a real thing, and it’s a pretty big deal in the NBA, especially during the playoffs. I guess playing at home really does give teams a boost!
