I am getting ready to watch the Boston Celtics later today, and although I have lost interest in basketball over the years I have to support the team in green. But is there even a reason to watch? The game is at home and from what I have seen in the playoffs the home team has a huge advantage. I believe their has only been one game that has been won on the road this series by any team.
Is having the crowd on your side cheering for you that much of motivation? I would have to say it is somewhat but not enough to make every home team invisible. I believe the officiating is the problem, the home team gets way more calls in a game and actually effects the outcome in some of them.
I think the officiating in basketball is worse than any other sport by far. Well if the Celtics lose today I guess my theory will be proved wrong. We will see what happens.
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I caught your post almost a year later, but if you are still interested in the answer there is around 2-3 points from a neutral court to a home court, meaning a 5 point swing from away against a team to home against the same team. Hope this helps!
Jack
I find the NBA officiating to be the most biased of all the major sports towards home court advantage.
Tony
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Something must change in the NBA to make the officiating more consistant. It is hurting the image of the image of league.
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The Officials of the NBA should really do something about it. It’s not good that their referees are sometimes being biased over some teams. But, let’s not all be generalized when it comes to Home court advantage and officiating.
I find the NBA officiating to be the most biased of all the major sports towards home court advantage.
The officiating of basketball games has both
good points and bad. It was shameful for that
referee to get caught betting on games. Heck, who knows what else is going on. It also seems that if
the ref messes up on a call, they later make a call for the other team to make up. Well the saying that nothing is perfect, especially basketball officiating.
I was so happy when Boston won last year but this year I was totally disappointed because there are lots of injured players. By the way, I agree with admin, I must admit that basketball is one of most biased sports. It’s really hard to gain credibility specially in this kind of sports, and are you gonna trust an official if you see him betting?
I agree, its anfair when you got your power players injured. that would be playng just for the heck of it.
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It’s funny how big the advantage is. The refs are obviously swayed by the NBA offices to sway the games to the home teams for attendance reasons, or maybe just get really upset when the crowd doesn’t like them after making a call on the home team. Either way it needs to be stopped.
Lost interest in Basketball?? How can you say that.. nah, this happens but you get back into it after a while.
I had to say you had me laughing when said “do I even need to watch.” It reminds me of when a certian team was in miami and down in the playoffs when a certain player got fouled approximately 81 times and scored about 41 from the free throw line… but who’s counting?
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Although I’m sure you can make a strong case for biased officiating, I believe the Boston Celtics lost more playoff games at home in 2009 than last year. I don’t agree with the refs handing out technical fouls like water (even for just a stare).
Let’s see what happens this year with Perkins and Rasheed Wallace both being on the Celtics and competing for the most T’s.
“The officiating of basketball games has both
good points and bad. It was shameful for that
referee to get caught betting on games. Heck, who knows what else is going on. It also seems that if
the ref messes up on a call, they later make a call for the other team to make up. Well the saying that nothing is perfect, especially basketball officiating”
@taux hypothecaire
I agree those refs have so much power and control over the games I really don’t people realize how much it affects every game. They can almost single handly determine games by calling fowls on dominant players in the game. money will make people do things out of the ordinary
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as of late the nba and fiba are non stop changing the rules and realy destroying the game for the players. as a player i am having to change my game every year and not for the better so fustrating and not needed..
thanks
riseabove
the nba is on of the most entertaining games on the planet but what is the go with claiming to be theworld camps every year when an nba champion ship is won. i know for a fact that there are teams in europ that will compete with any championship team in the nba.
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I think NBA officiating should incorporate more instant replays and not just in the end of the periods. With the instant replays it could also act as deterrent for the officials from trying to fix a game either way.
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Very popular post. More than a year later and you still got people coming in here and dropping their two cents (including me).
I’m really puzzled too how homecourt advantage can be so huge especially in the playoffs. Sure, the home team can feed off the fan’s energy (like the Warriors when they defeated the Mavs) but all that booing can also energize certain players like Black Mamba who when heckled too much would drop 40 on your grill.
I think it comes down to officiating, and Stern needs to come up with something that would make officiating in the league respectable again.
I rarely watch the NBA any more and I have been a basketball fan (and player) for over 40 years. They don’t play the game like it was meant to be played.
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I think officiating id more or less involved in every sport whether it is NBA or basketball or any other sport. But, officiating in basketball has really affected very badly to the charm of the game. Necessary steps are needed to be taken to prevent that.
I think that having all more fans around you will boost up the team even if they are losing also i like to same you can never get bored with basketball!!
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I believe NBA has the highest system and form of officiating the game. They have a huge database on how they are going to adapt and encapsulate new ideas. Well in fact, whether we like it or not, we are destined to follow of what they are doing.
hmmn..the home court advantage is like home ground advantage in cricket !!
As a basketball player, I can tell you that it does help to have a crowd on your side. The cheering gives you that little extra confidence boost. Beyond that, it’s not much help to have people constantly screaming…
I’m a big of the NBA players team for a long time. The game has evolve into a different level. NBA games are more exciting now than the old ones. Yes i agree that home teams has a bigger edge than the road team. Thank you for the post .Updates will be appreciated.
The new 2010 NBA season is starting yayyy
The Home team really gets a slight advantage because players are inspired by the fans
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@john .. yeah very over whelming if there’s a crowd .. a big crowd that will cheer .. only if those people are your fans .. lolz
Hi there,
I used to be an official and I can tell you that it can be a hard time. It’s clear that home court advantage shouldn’t play a role. But hey this is the NBA where players are stronger, jump higher then the rest of the world. So it’s part of the game.
Besides the homecourt advantage , the thing that strikes me more is that some superstarts are protected and that rookies always get the fault even when they hardly touch them.
Koen
Koen
we need more consistent officiating…
Most homestand is a winning formula for a team. The crowd is yours, the court and of course the tempo of the game is really controlled. Except for some reason that this is not happening.
That is actually a good guess. I would also assume officiating has something to do with the advantage because fans can be ruthless if the officials make a call they don’t like. In addition, it is possible to get in the players heads a little bit. Fans are good at this and if you’ve ever been to a college basketball game, fans do their research and can hit nerves.
I don’t watch basketball much but when they played in my home town in new Zealand it became so much more interesting
The NBA sometimes really gets on my nerves,and I get away from basketball all together for awhile. Basketball is a sport that you can’t stay away from long.
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Hey officiating is not only crucial in basket ball but also for cricket. I don’t know much about basket ball as I am a cricket buff yet I could say that whichever sport our home team plays, as fellow men we should support our team. This is a simple way to express our patriotism too in my view.
Then by the way, who won the basketball championship?
I do not know about basket ball and I am not interested in sports too. So can anyone let me know that what that officiating means? How is it gonna affect the game? What I feel is the audience can do a lot in a game. Their cheers and claps definitely will motivate the player. Thanks in advance.
Don’t let a few bad apples ruin your opinion of everybody else, referees have the hardest job in the NBA hands down.
I’m a big fan of the NBA players team for a long time. The game has evolve into a different level. NBA games are more exciting now than the old ones. Yes i agree that home teams has a bigger edge than the road team. Thank you for the post .Updates will be appreciated.
I think the home advantage is the same for all sports but I would like to see statistical information to the NBA though and home team wins. Very interesting.
I second the familiarity with the basketball court idea.
Furthermore, I think basketball is more influenced by factors like crowd noise and subtle differences in the court because it is probably the most intimate of all the major pro sports. The players are closer to each other with little padding, and emotions tend to run higher.
Having the crowd on your side is a huge advantage. If its a close game that can be just the extra motivation you need to win. Statistics show that most teams play better at home, so there must be something to having home field advantage.
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Well, Lakers are down to the Mavs 3 games to nothing and if they are going to pull out a miracle and make it to the finals, they are definitely going to have to pull out some wins on the road. Danny I see you are a Celtics fan so I won’t expect any sympathy from you
As far as the refs, I think the home team can sometimes garner extra favor either consciously or unconsciously simply because it is easier to make popular calls. You know you are going to hear it from the fans if you make a tough call the other way.
I think the reason NBA refs are so biased is because the fans are so close. I don’t think there is another sport wear the fans are right on top of you.
the NBA sometimes really gets on my nerves,and I get away from basketball all together for awhile. Basketball is a sport that you can’t stay away from long.
The host team is determined by a combination of factors, including attendance and crowd atmosphere.There’s a lot of variance in balls from conference to conference and even game to game, and the ball teams use in games are also the ones they use in practice, meaning the home team gets to play with their own ball. It might seem like a small thing,But it has also has an impact in the home teams to raise its confidence levels.Anyhow crowd helps them most..Thanks
It can be even worse in sports that originate from certain areas. In Australian Rules Football there always seems to be a strong bias towards teams from the state of Victoria, since that is where the game originated and where there tends to be the most ‘peer pressure’.
One of the tougher things to stomach in the NBA is what the marquee players get away with. If you’re Kobe Bryant and you get a knock driving to the hoop, you’re going to go to the free throw line. Less well recognised players never seem to get that sort of love.
There has been a study done that players on the home side have an advantage due to raised testosterone levels which is mean to be for survival and to protect their territory. It’s only a slight difference but can sometimes mean the difference between a match won or lost!
I think there are lots of sports that benefit from being the home team.
I’m from the UK and Football (soccer) teams certainly benefit from being the home team.
Stats wise most teams win more home games than road games.
Nice article very informative.
Lost interest in Basketball?? How can you say that.. nah, this happens but you get back into it after a while.
I agree that there comes times when you feel a little tired from basketball but this is a great game and if you seriously love it it can`t be true.
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There is no advantage like home court advantage. This is mostly because the home players are likely very used to the surroundings in their home court.
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