Why are we doing better on the road?

[vinylstar]

Because there is no spoon.

[particleman]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Fine, I'll concede that HCA is important to other teams in the NBA 59.5% of the time because they get home cooking from the refs, but the Mavs are the exception to this "rule" (that is, if you believe something that occurs 59.5% of the time can be defined as a rule...)


Mavs FTA's vs. opponent FTA's this season:


vs. Bobcats: 18-24
vs. Grizzlies: 24-36
vs. Nuggets: 26-21
vs. Celtics: 20-7
vs. 76ers: 29-23
vs. Hornets: 27-24
vs. Bulls: 25-23
vs. Pistons: 27-26
vs. Heat: 22-35
vs. Rockets: 19-28
vs. Timberwolves: 23-23

Home average: 24-25


@ Clippers: 29-31
@ Nuggets: 19-12
@ Grizzlies: 11-19
@ Hornets: 23-16
@ Hawks: 16-10
@ Thunder: 34-23
@ Spurs: 31-27
@ Jazz: 11-30
@ Kings: 29-16

Away average: 23-20


HCA means squat to this team (and apparently doesn't mean much to other teams when we play them either...)

Well you're the one who said Dallas is the "exception to the 'rule'," (which was the entire purpose of the thread, Why is Dallas an exception to the rule? So I'm not sure I understand exactly what point you're trying to make here, unless it's that the refs are less likely to give Dallas favorable calls at home than they are other teams..) so I'm assuming you do think it's a rule.

If so, I agree with you. When something can generally be expected to happen 50% of the time and it instead happens 60% of the time, that's significant. And that 59.5% number isn't particular to this season. From what I've been able to find HCA in the NBA comes through right at about 60% of the time throughout the past 15-20 years or so at least.

Recently the Mavericks have been a bit of an exception to that rule, though I think you guys might be jumping to conclusions based on too small of a sample. Over the last five years Dallas has won 45 more games at home than on the road. Granted last season we only won one more game at home than on the road. But I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of this season Dallas doesn't have 5 or more wins at home than on the road.. it's still early.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by particleman

Well you're the one who said Dallas is the "exception to the 'rule'," (which was the entire purpose of the thread, Why is Dallas an exception to the rule? So I'm not sure I understand exactly what point you're trying to make here, unless it's that the refs are less likely to give Dallas favorable calls at home than they are other teams..) so I'm assuming you do think it's a rule.

If so, I agree with you. When something can generally be expected to happen 50% of the time and it instead happens 60% of the time, that's significant. And that 59.5% number isn't particular to this season. From what I've been able to find HCA in the NBA comes through right at about 60% of the time throughout the past 15-20 years or so at least.

Recently the Mavericks have been a bit of an exception to that rule, though I think you guys might be jumping to conclusions based on too small of a sample. Over the last five years Dallas has won 45 more games at home than on the road. Granted last season we only won one more game at home than on the road. But I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of this season Dallas doesn't have 5 or more wins at home than on the road.. it's still early.

"Rule"




I hardly think 60% can be considered a rule anyway - that number won't get you a passing grade in America's public school system or push any new laws through Congress (because 60% is closer to 30% than it is to 100%).

But I'm not all that interested in debating the word "rule", I'm interested in debating the word "advantage". What kind of advantage does home court give the Mavs?

The only two advantages teams get from playing on their home court are the home crowd and the penalty calling from the refs - neither of those have worked in the Mavs' favor so far this season, so the HCA "rule" doesn't really apply, does it?

[particleman]

Originally Posted by Underdog

"Rule"




I hardly think 60% can be considered a rule anyway - that number won't get you a passing grade in America's public school system or push any new laws through Congress (because 60% is closer to 30% than it is to 100%).

But I'm not all that interested in debating the word "rule", I'm interested in debating the word "advantage". What kind of advantage does home court give the Mavs?

The only two advantages teams get from playing on their home court are the home crowd and the penalty calling from the refs - neither of those have worked in the Mavs' favor so far this season, so the HCA "rule" doesn't really apply, does it?

Yeah, I didn't mean to get tied up in semantics; whatever you want to call it, the stats show that on average teams tend to play better at home than on the road. I think a couple of other factors play into that 60/40 advantage, probably the only one that really matters to this discussion would be travel/rest (it's easier to play at 100% when you didn't fly in at 4am that morning after a game the night before)... and Dallas has been so damn awesome this year that hasn't mattered either.

But I guess my point is that we're talking about 20 games.. and yeah Dallas has played better on the road so far, but I'm not convinced that over the course of the season Dallas won't benefit a little from HCA and be hindered a little by road court disadvantage..

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by Axilla

Good sir, this has long been a complaint of mine.

the people who care about the game the most can't afford to be close and the people who are closest are often with clients just trying to be seen and do the "mavericks thing."

i hate going to the AAC for this reason.

not that anyone would claim that Dallas people are generally appearance-oriented or shallow.... never

Is it any different anywhere else in the NBA?

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by particleman

I think a couple of other factors play into that 60/40 advantage, probably the only one that really matters to this discussion would be travel/rest (it's easier to play at 100% when you didn't fly in at 4am that morning after a game the night before)...
.

I haven't looked this year, but for a couple years, Dirks stats always looked worse in the "more than 2 days rest" split. Maybe they do better on the road because they don't get the rest?

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by particleman

I think a couple of other factors play into that 60/40 advantage, probably the only one that really matters to this discussion would be travel/rest (it's easier to play at 100% when you didn't fly in at 4am that morning after a game the night before)

Solid point, I hadn't considered that...

But I guess my point is that we're talking about 20 games.. and yeah Dallas has played better on the road so far, but I'm not convinced that over the course of the season Dallas won't benefit a little from HCA and be hindered a little by road court disadvantage..

It's hard to say with this team. In these 20 games, the Mavs have appeared to play with more of a chip on their shoulder on the road. I think they're trying to make a statement to the league by pissing all over everybody else's HCA, but they haven't always played with the same intensity at home (not that I'd mind the trend if we were 32-8 twenty games from now...)

Plus, most of Dirk's best games have come on the road - he gets nasty when the opportunity to play spoiler arises.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Axilla

Good sir, this has long been a complaint of mine.

the people who care about the game the most can't afford to be close and the people who are closest are often with clients just trying to be seen and do the "mavericks thing."

i hate going to the AAC for this reason.

not that anyone would claim that Dallas people are generally appearance-oriented or shallow.... never

Like someone said above, I think this is pretty universal. Whose on the front row at Laker games? Actors, celebrities, and NFL or MLB stars or whatever.

Plus, I was listening to Marc Stein on a podcast the other day, and he said he actually thought the crowd had been pretty good for the AAC this year, despite the lack of interest in the Mavs coming into the season (something Cuban admitted in a different interview). I know people here have been complaining about the crowd noises, but Stein was saying there had been some really big, loud, active crowds so far this year. He did say there were a few disappointing ones, but overall I got the impression that it was a little above the usual so far.

[dude1394]

Well from begin there versus watching it on the tube, there is no comparison in the crowd noise.. The tube just doesn't capture it.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Well from begin there versus watching it on the tube, there is no comparison in the crowd noise.. The tube just doesn't capture it.

I keep saying that, but it seems like every GDT there's some guy going off about "how the crowd needs to get into it" and "the arena is completely silent, no wonder the Mavericks are losing" or some crap like that. I just don't know how that can been known by simply watching a TV. Finally I have some proof.