Road teams pushing back in early days of NBA playoffs, stealing away the home-court advantages
The first six games in this season's playoffs all had something in common. Road teams figured out how to avoid being pushovers. Of the six first-round series that have completed two games, only two higher-seeded teams — Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers — have managed to hold serve at home and take 2-0 series leads.
The first six games in this season's playoffs all had something in common. The home teams all prevailed, winning by an average of 18. 5 points per game.
And since then, chaos. Road teams figured out how to avoid being pushovers. Of the six first-round series that have completed two games, only two higher-seeded teams — Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers — have managed to hold serve at home and take 2-0 series leads.
Oklahoma City could join the Cavaliers and Lakers in that club if it beats Phoenix in Game 2 of that series on Wednesday. Otherwise, that home-court advantage teams spent 82 games of regular-season basketball trying to obtain? It's already gone, meaning a whole bunch of Game 3s are coming up later this week with lower-seeded teams feeling pretty good about their chances at springing an upset.
— East No. 8 Orlando beat No. 1 Detroit in Game 1 of their series on Sunday.