What Can History Teach Us About The NBA Finals?
As the NBA finals kick off with its first game on the 7th of July, you might be wondering which of these teams will emerge champion. The truth is that the fate of the winner may already be sealed. And youll soon see why. When it comes to winning in NBA Finals, a pronounced pointer is the team with the home court. The home-court advantage has played out in several seasons of the NBA finals. Out of 71 seasons, home teams emerged champion 50 whopping times! NBA Finals odds usually goes in favor of the home team, which enjoys the support of present fans cheering them on, especially when the heat is high. Five years down the line, 57% win by home teams in regular seasonal games iterates the advantage that teams have when playing in their comfort zone. The result of the 2020-21 season games may have you wondering what the NBA Finals odds are, but dont forget that the arenas were not full to capacity, so the home-court advantage was quite impaired. Plus, the teams that played at home still won 54 percent of the games. In NBA history, NBA finals odds favor home teams so much that they win at a 61 percent rate. And most recently, in Game 1 and Game 7, there was a significant dominance by home teams. In fact, when it comes to the first games, its a crazy one. In 71 years, teams with the home advantage have won the very first game of NBA finals 53 different times! Thats 75%! Of course, with several fans all over the arena, especially at the opening game, its often challenging for a road team to get in to come out winning. And its even harder when they get to Game 7. There are times when home teams triumphed 15 times out of 19 games. The only tougher task is winning a Game 7 on the road. Games 1 and 7 have consistently proved that home teams have the home-court advantage, leaving winning opportunities to road teams only at Game 2 and Game 5. Before the NBA changed the format for Finals in 2014, things were a bit different. Between 1950 and 1984, the structure was just as it is today, 2-2-1-1-1, with the team holding the better record hosting Games 1, 2, 5, and 7. But from 1985 to 2013, the 2-3-2 format was used to limit cross-country traveling. Thats why the home team started playing three consecutive away games with the same format. Their success level reduced to 66 percent in the NBA Finals series, instead of the previous 71 percent. However, the modified format of 2-2-1-1-1 since 2014 has returned dominance to home teams, which now go 6-1. Now that the 2-2-1-1-1 format is in place, and NBA arenas are back to close-to-full or even full capacity, the importance of home advantage in the NBA Finals now stares us in the faces.