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sports Wednesday 3 January 2024

In an era when home court means less and less, the Boston Celtics

are 16-0 at TD Garden

By NOAH TRISTER NBA. Last season, the home less intimidating venues or
AP Sports Writer team won 58% of the time other reasons, winning on
When the Boston Celtics in the regular season. That the road is a good bit more
were winning champion- number is around the same common now.
ships with Larry Bird and this season. Back in the late That's not to say nobody
Kevin McHale in the 1980s, 80s, that figure was north of can put up a dominant
they were notoriously 65%. In the 1950-51 season, home record anymore.
tough to beat at home. it was 74%. San Antonio matched Bos-
The old Boston Garden In some ways, the Celtics ton's record by going 40-1
could be oppressively hot, themselves have reflected in 2015-16, losing only to
and a rowdy home crowd the overall state of home- Golden State in its next-to-
added another obstacle. court advantage in the last home game — a vic-
Buildings in the NBA aren't NBA. In 1954-55 — when tory the Warriors needed
like that anymore, but home court was a huge while closing in on the all-
the current Celtics are on deal — Boston went 21-5 time wins record of 73.
their own impressive run at at home and 4-22 on the Fans react behind Boston Celtics' Jrue Holiday (4) and Toronto Of course, those Spurs then
home. Boston is 16-0 at TD road. Raptors' Dennis Schroder (17) after the Celtics prevented the dropped two of their three
Garden. With its corporate In 1985-86, the Celtics set Raptors from scoring in the final seconds of the fourth quarter home games during a sec-
name and modern feel, a record by going 40-1 at during an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in Boston. ond-round playoff loss to
that arena doesn't have home. Then they went 10-0 Associated Press Oklahoma City.
the mystique of the old at home in the playoffs en Even Denver, with its dif- then another in the post- There are signs that home-
Garden, but it does house route to the championship. ficult altitude, lost seven season on its way to the ti- court advantage isn't as
a fine basketball team that Nowadays, nobody feels home games during the tle. Whether it's because of big a factor anymore in the
is trying to leave its own that unbeatable at home. regular season in 2022-23, more comfortable travel, postseason either.q
mark on Celtics history.
"We got the best fans in
the league," guard Der-
rick White said last month
when asked about receiv-
ing "MVP" chants. "I know
I'm not the MVP, but it's al-
ways cool to hear."
Forgive Boston fans for get-
ting a little carried away.
At home at least, the Celt-
ics look worthy of quite a
few honors.
Amazingly, Boston's per-
fect home record nearly
ended last week against a
team trying to halt an even
longer streak. The Detroit
Pistons took a 21-point lead
in the second quarter be-
fore the Celtics came all
the way back to win 128-
122 in overtime on Thurs-
day 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.
Detroit did end the streak
two nights later at home
against Toronto. That was a
night after the Celtics had
also defeated Toronto at
home, again barely keep-
ing their streak alive with
a 120-118 victory. Boston's
next home game is Friday
against Utah. Minnesota,
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