Article Courtesy of Ben Burns Sports, A Professional Sports Handicapper at Touthouse.com
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Can anybody win a damn road game in the NBA semifinals? Home teams started 20-1 in this round! The Lakers forced overtime after a late rally in Game 4 in Utah but were outscored in the extra session, 15-7. The Celtics started 7-0 SU, 5-2 ATS in the playoffs at home, but 0-6 SU/ATS on the road. Three of the keys to playing well at crunch time are experience, coaching and home court, and it’s not easy to have all three in your favor, especially in close games.

It’s obvious what home court provides: Cheering fans, a comfortable environment that players have seen all season long, and even a tendency for officials’ calls to go the way of the home team. Experience helps this time of the season, with a veteran team like the Pistons being able to stare adversity in the face on the road several times and play well. Young teams like the Atlanta Hawks positively wilted on the road. Even the more talented but still young Hornets struggled in three games in San Antonio.

Coaching is the third factor. A good coach can help keep players stay cool when the pressure is on, especially on the road. Players can get a boost of confidence knowing that the experienced coach knows how to keep everyone calm or make good strategic moves on the court. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, for instance, was cool in Game 6 against New Orleans. Before the game, he appeared as relaxed as he had all series, and that was at least partly because he knew the pressure of an elimination game was something his team was almost certain to thrive on.

Someone asked Popovich if the Spurs felt more pressure on the brink of a second-round elimination than they did before Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and he laughed the question off. “In that locker room,” Popovich said, “pressure is a good thing.” That’s a rare extra card the defending champs hold.

The Spurs looked like they’d been there before in Game 6. Before Game 1 in New Orleans, Byron Scott tried to inspire his players by showing them the championship rings he won when he played for the Lakers. Before Game 6 he visited the trophy case at the AT&T Center where the Spurs’ four Larry O’Brien trophies are displayed. It didn’t work, as the Hornets wilted in a 99-80 Spurs’ drubbing in Game 6.

New Orleans forward West would say he thought the Hornets “lost our cool,” including himself. After he was charged with three fouls in the span of a minute, he was fuming after getting a delay-of-game warning. All of which leads us to Game 7.

We still don’t know what kind of thing pressure is in the Hornets locker room. Their storybook run has been largely untainted by pressure games. The Dallas Mavericks never pushed them in the first round, and each victory against the Spurs in New Orleans came with the knowledge that they were assured of at least another chance the next time out. Byron Scott said before Game 5 in New Orleans that his young team didn’t fully understand the situation they were in, and Scott saw that as a good thing. But Game 7, you have to believe they will be well aware that this one game is for all the marbles – or you go home for the summer. The Mavericks have wilted the last two years under playoff pressure.

For the record, the last time the Spurs played a Game 7 on the road was in 1990, when they lost 108-105 to Portland in two overtimes in the Western Conference semifinals. The Spurs have played in two Game 7s since, beating Detroit 81-74 in the 2005 NBA Finals and losing 119-111 in overtime to Dallas in the 2006 Western Conference finals. The stars of the current San Antonio team played in those winning games, though the Spurs are 2-6 all-time in Game 7s.

The Celtics are another team that’s tough to figure as far as coaching, experience and playoff pressure. Doc Rivers has never won anything as a player or coach. Neither have stars Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and those stars are surrounded by a lot of young players. They certainly have shown erratic tendencies at crunch time that young teams often show in the postseason The Celtics have folded late in games on the road, failing to make big shots while giving up plenty of the same 90 feet away.

I’m not saying the Celtics are frauds, but it stands out that a 66-win team that was 31-10 on the road in the regular season is suddenly 0-5 Su/ATS away from home. One other point is that the Cavaliers attempted 41 free throws to the Celtics’ 23 in Game 5, and that’s even with Cleveland having to foul at the end. That’s a frightening stat, one that indicates that despite a victory, the Celts have not come to grips with that issue which has been a problem in the postseason. You have to wonder about pressure, coaching and big game experience with this team. And the importance of those factors is only going to increase as we go deeper into the playoffs.