Celtics riding high at home
When the Celtics were winning championships with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in the 1980s, they were notoriously tough to beat at home. The old Boston Garden could be oppressively hot, and a rowdy home crowd added another obstacle.
Buildings in the NBA aren’t like that anymore, but the current Celtics are on their own impressive run at home.
The Celtics are 16-0 at TD Garden. With its corporate name and modern feel, that arena doesn’t have the mystique of the old Garden, but it does house a fine basketball team that is trying to leave its own mark on Celtics history.
Amazingly, the Celtics’ perfect home record nearly ended last week against a team trying to halt an even longer streak. The Pistons took a 21-point lead in the second quarter before the Celtics came all the way back to win 128-122 in overtime on Thursday night. It was a record-tying 28th straight loss for the Pistons, and Boston would have been a most unlikely place for them to finally win.
The Pistons did end the streak two nights later at home against the Raptors. That was a night after the Celtics had also defeated the Raptors at home, again barely keeping their streak alive with a 120-118 victory. The Celtics’ next home game is Friday against the Jazz. The Timberwolves, in town next week, could provide a significant test.
What’s interesting about this run by the Celtics is that overall, home-court advantage isn’t nearly what it used to be in the NBA. Last season, the home team won 58% of the time in the regular season. That number is around the same this season. Back in the late 1980s, that figure was north of 65%. In the 1950-51 season, it was 74%.
In some ways, the Celtics themselves have reflected the overall state of home-court advantage in the NBA. In 1954-55 — when home court was a huge deal — they went 21-5 at home and 4-22 on the road.
In 1985-86, the Celtics set a record by going 40-1 at home. Then they went 10-0 at home in the playoffs en route to the title.
Nowadays, nobody feels that unbeatable at home. That’s not to say nobody can put up a dominant home record anymore. The Spurs matched the Celtics’ record by going 40-1 in 2015-16, losing only to the Warriors in their next-tolast home game — a victory the Warriors needed while closing in on the all-time wins record of 73.
Of course, those Spurs then dropped two of their three home games during a second-round playoff loss to the Thunder.
There are signs that home-court advantage isn’t as big a factor anymore in the postseason either.
From 1983-94, home teams were undefeated in Game 7s. And after the Bullets beat the SuperSonics in 1978, no road team won Game 7 of the NBA Finals until LeBron James and the Cavaliers did it against the Warriors in 2016.
These days, however, home court assures nothing in a Game 7. Last season, two road teams won in that scenario — the Warriors beat the Kings and the Heat beat the Celtics. That was, remarkably, the fourth time in the last two decades that the Celtics have dropped a Game 7 at home. It also happened in 2005 against the Pacers, 2009 against the Magics and 2018 against the Cavs.
In that span, no other team has lost more than two Game 7s at home.
So the Celtics’ dominance at TD Garden is noteworthy, but they know as much as anyone that they can’t take it for granted when they start the postseason.