A win-loss record doesn't show any evidence of a home field advantage, because as you mention a team can suck hard and be in Denver or Salt Lake City. But, if a team has a higher win percentage at home than away, then they have a home field advantage. Somewhere I saw an analysis of this that combined all professional sport franchises for each city in the US and ranked the historical home/away differentials (this was quite a while back, and I can't seem to google anything on it). Denver was #1 on the list. Humans get tired... fact. Altitude causes fatigue due to reduced oxygen, which we need for muscles to do work. People who live at higher altitudes adapt with higher red blood cell counts to allow them to handle the altitude. Professional cyclists sleep in oxygen deprivation tents to simulate altitude. There is no question that altitude will have some effect on the Rockets, and that effect will be more on them than on the Jazz. Now the question is, is it significant? I've never played a basketball game at 4,500 ft vs. 5,200 ft, so I really have no idea. For someone like Yao who couldn't run 5 miles and has stamina issues, I would guess it would be significant. For someone like Luther Head, who could probably run a marathon, I doubt one basketball game would reveal much of any difference. We can definitely say that it isn't an excuse for Luther Head not being able to hit squat in the first half of a game in Salt Lake City.
