Comments on: NBA Playoffs: OKC takes Game 2 in Dallas

By: purdueman

purdueman — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:22:27 +0000

mick… let me elaborate….

I think that home court would be a big advantage were it not for the ridiculous breaks between games once the conference championship games begin. Just like the abnormal additional extra week between the NFL Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl, the big breaks between these games put A LOT more emphasis on coaching and making adjustments that I feel (at least in part), offset home court advantage.

I can’t think of one good/valid reason why game #3 between the Heat and Bulls isn’t being played tonight instead of waiting all the way until Sunday. It kills whatever momentum a team may have had coming off of the previous game.

The UC in Chicago is also a very loud place, and the Bulls marketing department has tried to transfer the shtick of “The Madhouse on Madison” from the old Chicago Stadium to the new much bigger and acoustically better UC, but no matter what you call the UC, it’s never going to be the “Madhouse on Madison” that the old Chicago Stadium was!

Yes, the crowd noise at the beginning of the game and at those times when the home team makes a run have to pump up the adrenaline levels of the home team players, but all the opposing coach has to do is call a time out to quell that because even some 20 second time outs turn into two minute breaks in the action so that the networks can squeeze in more commercials (again, helping to negate home court advantage).

If home court advantage was as big of a factor as many still think it is, then Dallas and Chicago both would have won their last games. With respect to the Bulls, it’s not as if they got blown out by Miami in game #2; they just couldn’t hit the side of a barn with the basketball the other night.

As for the Thunder? I LOVED, and I mean ABSOLUTELY LOVED their trade for Perkins with Boston. I was hoping for a Thunder-Laker playoff matchup, because I would have LOVED to have seen the young charging Thunder run the aging, leg weary Lakers off the court!

By: mickdamill

mickdamill — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:38:01 +0000

No home court advantage, have you ever seen OKC’s home crowd? How can you not feed off of that energy? The Thunder managed to play well enough this game to take the home crowd out of it.

People were not giving Thunder a chance after game 1 but they are proving everyone wrong. Nick Collison played tremedous defense last game, props to that man.

By: purdueman

purdueman — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:21:48 +0000

So much for home court advantage. I think that the whole home court advantage thing in this day and age of cookie cutter oversized arenas is way overrated. Unlike in football, home weather conditions aren’t a factor and unlike in baseball the playing field’s layout and dimensions aren’t a factor either, so why all the big whoop about it all the time?

By: borderline1988

borderline1988 — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:47:26 +0000

Man, James Harden simply didn’t miss. He kept nailing shots in the 3rd and 4th quarters, even when the Mavs were playing good D on him. Completely demoralizing.
The Mavs didnt play too well, but I though they played good enough to win. Just Harden hit some ridiculous shots, and that put OKC over the top.

Everyone makes this series about Durant/Nowitzki.
But maybe this series is all about Harden vs. Terry/Barea? The teams are fairly evenly matched everywhere else. Whoever is hitting their shots off the bench and providing that spark is the one who wills his team to win….