One of the biggest issues in this year's playoffs is the absence of the home-court advantage inside the NBA bubble. A couple of the teams that have suffered significantly in this regard are none other than the Los Angeles Clippers and the Boston Celtics, and Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports has the data to prove it.
The Clippers were the latest victims of this shocking trend:
In the conference semifinals, capped off by the Clippers’ utter collapse, the home team went just 5-19 (.208), losing each game on average by 3.5 points. Five and 19! At one point, the home team lost nine straight games. Yes, the home team — the one with virtual fans plastered on giant screens and home-curated audio recordings that blare from the speakers.
As it turns out, the Celtics have had a similar experience to that of the Boston, if not even worse:
You don’t need to tell the Celtics about the lack of home-court advantage in the bubble. In the series against Toronto, the home team lost Games 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Yes, the “road” team won every single game in the series.
That's literally not anything like we've ever seen before. As a matter of fact, never in the history of the NBA has the road team won all the games in a seven-game series. Needless to say, there is a great anomaly going on here, and it's actually not that hard to comprehend. We all knew that teams were going to lose the home-court advantage with everyone playing in a single, isolated venue, but the data presented here remains undeniably astounding.
The only difference between these two teams is that the Celtics are still vying for an NBA title, while the Clippers have already been sent packing. The disappearance of the home-court advantage has proven to be a factor in the playoffs, but as proven by Boston, it simply is not the be-all and end-all of how a certain team fares in the postseason.
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