Home Court Advantage Continues to Dominate the NBA Playoffs

In the second round of this year's NBA playoffs home court advantage seems to be a huge asset, 19 of 20 games played in the second round the home team has come out on top which is leading the last three series (Spurs/Hornets, Jazz/Lakers, Cavs/Celtics) to possible game sevens. The only loss was by the Orlando Magic against the Detroit Pistons.

Even the Boston Celtics who had the best road record in the NBA this season (31-10) haven't been able to win even one game on the road. In the first round against the 8th seed Atlanta Hawks (0-3) and now in the second round against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (0-2).

For some reason the home team continues to dominate, it maybe because crowd noise or just dumb luck, but one thing is for sure, who ever wins on the road will be the team that has the best chance to advance.

In Utah the crowd noise is deafening, you can't even hear yourself think let alone be able to communicate on the floor making it very difficult to get some chemistry together, the crowd is so hostile it makes it very hard to go into their house and pull out a win which reflects only having 4 losses at home this season. One thing about being a Lakers fan like myself it is really, really hard not to hate every team in the West, I like Golden State, BD is a baller and fun to watch, but I hate the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz with a passion.

Then there is Boston with their "bandwagon" fans like Mike Bibby said, that I think is right on the money even though the Lakers have their fare share to with all the Lakers flags that just start appearing on cars when the start winning, but are no where in sight when the Lakers are playing like crap or struggling.

In the past, the Boston Garden was one of the hardest places to play in the NBA with the crazy fanatic fans of Baaahston in the Larry Bird era and now it seems as though the fans are coming back and making the place as hard as ever to get a W.

The Spurs on the other hand I wouldn't say have a the fan base or extremely noisy arenas like Boston or Utah, I am sure they have sell out crowds on a nightly basis, but the Spurs are just so damn good, I have a passion for hatin' on these guys. They are like the Pistons of the West, almost a guarantee to get deep in the playoffs every season.

Finally, you have the Lakers at the Staples Center where there no shortage of Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars like Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington, even some of the best athletes in the sports world come out to see the Lakers like soccer superstar David Beckham. All of this combined with arguably the best player in the game Kobe Bryant it makes for one of the best basketball arenas in the league and a tough place to play for any opponent as they have not lost once at home in the playoffs.

Well, Lakers fans, we are still alive and more than ready to take out the Utah Jazz and advance to the Western conference finals for the first time since 2004, if you want to watch any of the remaining games live, check out BarrysTickets.com for great deals on Los Angeles Lakers Tickets
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