Finals action begins this Thursday with Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Both teams are used to playing in the Finals, but this year’s tournament is set up a little differently.
Who has Home Court in NBA Finals
It was the Celtics who were the top seed in the East while the Warriors were the third best team in the West. This is the second year in a row (and the fifth time since 2007) that the Finals do not have a No. 1 seed.
Why aren’t the Finals Starting in Boston if the Celtics are the Higher Seed?
You may get a sense of how home court operates in the NBA Finals and how crucial it is in deciding the winner by looking at the following:
Read Also:
- Pressure Grows on G20 Nations to Get Covid Vaccines to the Poor
- Modern Love Podcast: Was It Me or Our Astrology?
In the NBA Finals, the club with the better regular season record receives home-court advantage instead of the higher seed, which is the case in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
Having finished the regular season with a 53-29 record and the Celtics with a 51-31 mark, Golden State will play at home in Game 1 of the series.
Higher-seeded teams typically have better records than lower-seeded teams. When the higher seeded club begins the Finals on the road, it hasn’t happened since 2019.
With a record of 57-25 and the top seed in the Western Conference, the Warriors faced the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors (58-24), in Game 1 of the Finals on the road in Toronto.
The Milwaukee Bucks advanced to the NBA Finals by beating the Brooklyn Nets, and the Phoenix Suns beat both Los Angeles teams.
Read Also:
Last Words
The Celtics had a better record than the Warriors but still finished second in the Eastern Conference, behind the Miami Heat.
Because of their better regular season record, Kerr’s team will host the first four games of the NBA Finals at home. If the series goes seven games, Kerr and his team will have the opportunity to play all seven games at Oracle Arena.
