Home Sweet Home

The Dallas Mavericks return home tonight after splitting the first two games of the series with the San Antonio Spurs. Because of this split, the Mavs now own the home court advantage.

The team tied with Cleveland for the best home record since the All-Star break at 15-1; (the one loss was a 2 point loss against the Denver Nuggets wherein J-Ho and JKidd both sat out the game) the Dallas Mavericks come back home to play two crucial games of the series which will decide if the Mavericks have to win on the road again this round.
It seems simple; take care of business at home and you will win this series. The problem is that San Antonio was 11 games over .500 on the road this season (26-15), and the Spurs are one of the 9 losses Dallas had at home all season (32-9). The good news is that the Spurs needed double overtime on that night to get the victory. The other good news is that since the Mavericks lost their first 4 home games of the season, they are a total of 32-5 at the AAC.
This is another reason why that first game win in San Antonio was so huge (and completely unexpected). Although the Mavericks closed out the season strong going 7-2 in their final 9 games, 7 of those games were at home and were the 7 wins. In their last 8 road games of the season the Mavericks went 2-6 with two wins against Minnesota and Indiana. Against teams with winning records they were win less at 0-6. The only reason this team made the playoffs is because of their outstanding play at home. Now if they can play to their greatest strength and win their next three games at home (they won their last 7 at home to close out the regular season) they can win this series.
This is not to say this won't be a challenge, as stated before the Spurs are a great road team and have been for about the last 10 years now. The Spurs played 5 of their last 8 games of the season on the road. Their record in those 5 games was 4-1. Since the All-Star break, they also won 9 out of their last 13 road games of the season. The good news for the Mavs is that during this stretch the Spurs beat a team with a winning record only twice: Detroit (who was 27-26 at the time) at 83-79, and Houston at 88-85. These aren't exactly lopsided wins but on the other hand it does show that they have the ability to win close games against quality opponents in a hostile environment.
I know the playoffs are different from the regular season, but the stats don't lie bro. This is a team that has excelled in front of their home fans. This is an arena full of fans that have seriously jacked up their intensity this year and have made the AAC a comfortable and easy atmosphere for the Mavs while making it an uncomfortable experience for the visiting team again.


Nine(9!) home losses this season with final scores and ESPN box score link:

Western Conference:
Denver(2) 88-98 ; 101-103
Houston (1) 102-112
LA (1) 99-106
New Orleans (1) 97-104
San Antonio (1) 126-133 2OT

Eastern Conference:
Boston (1) 92-99
Cleveland (1) 81-100
Orlando (1) 100-102