What makes a town better at sustaining energetic and consistent attendance? I understand in Chicago, going to a Bulls game could be more of a ritual for people who who were on top of the basketball world not too long ago. They seem to have sustainable pride and fanaticism as a fan base. Other teams like Utah have been consistently good so it makes sense that the fan base has stuck around and it continues to be a tough place to play for opponents. Sacramento's fans still have a good rep even though they've been kind of up and down. Where does their pride come from that translates to "good fans"? Because of the love of all things MJ to this day, I wonder how long it will take to see a dip in attendance at Chicago games due to people "forgetting" what past success means to them, to go to a Bulls game and kind of live the tradition in a very active way. We've seen some dog years since Hakeem put us on top. It's been long enough that a whole new generation of NBA fans don't "remember" our accomplishments and won't immediately associate the Rockets with "something worth being a part of". We can't just blame the corporations because they exist in every NBA city. How are Houstonians different? Can objective analysis tell us why our "crowds" or "fans" seem to be sub par compared to other cities? My fanatical analysis tells me that Jazz fans are just dumb enough to cheer for the Jazz because they're every one of them inbred and possibly an experiment gone wrong. The same goes for people who happen to live in Dallas.
It is very important to have the homecourt but your crowd has to be in the game. Generally speaking a team should win with the homecourt but that is not always the case. All great players have lost with the homecourt advantage. Shaq, Duncan, T-mac, Kobe, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Russell, Hakeem, Malone, etc. The only player that was never defeated with homecourt advantage that I know of that is a top 25 player all time is Michael Jordan. He was 24-0 in series with the homecourt advantage.
The title I picked doesn't reflect the questions I'm asking. My fault. Everyone knows the obvious value of playing in front of a friendly crowd. Not all friendly home crowds are equal. What accounts for the difference between our home crowd and those that provide more of an apparent boost to their team?
Some of it probably has to do with the other sports draws in the town -- how many there are and how successful they are at the time. San Antonio, Sacramento, and Utah are good examples in that they really don't have anything else going on professionally. Even when the NBA franchises aren't competing well, which granted for Utah and San Antonio, it's really been a long time since they haven't been competitive -- you still get major crowd turn-out and some pretty rabid fans because there's nothing else to do if you're a pro sports fan. To me, Dallas is a good example of the opposite. They have other pro franchises. When the Mavs suck (okay, well they'll always suck, but I mean not be competitive), the arena will empty out -- that's how it was before they became popular in the late 90s until today. Those fans will flock to Cowboys games, or go eat turds, or whatever else they do for fun up in Dallas. There's definitely some regional variation too -- in Texas, football and baseball will always come first. So, despite the fact that our pro basketball teams and our soccer team are the most successful (in terms of championships), people here will always care more about a mediocre Texans team or a slightly better than mediocre Astros team. (Yeah, kpsta doesn't care for either sport... so he doesn't count.)
That's true to a degree, but the Bulls have the Bears, Cubs and White Sox and those stadiums are usually packed.
Yeah... only if you have a crazy crowd like Golden State or Utah. Plus T-mac doesnt like the rims at toyota center, so it might not be an advantange for us.
I haven't done any in-depth research, but it seems less decisive of a factor than it was in the 80's and 90's. Perhaps its the newer (more tame) arenas? Who knows.
I dont get all thise home court advantage stuff. Does home court make u shoot better , play better D or something?
Wow.. you put T-Mac in the "great players who lost homecourt advantage" list? Something about seeing the name T-Mac in the same sentence with Kobe, Magic, Bird, Russell and Hakeem that just doesn't feel right.
most of the time yes, but even that doesn't translate to wins. But it is nice having your home crowd supporting you for 2 games to gain a lead in the series... that is the idea behind it anyway. If you aren't down your starting center, and starting pg, that home crowd can be HUGE.
I think it is a subconscious thing. The team at home plays with a confidence while the away side, has allready put it in there heads that being away from home will make it more difficult to win. Other than the travel there is nothing realy concrete that suggest why there is a advantage playing at home.
if a opposing team is horrible on the road, then yes that is evidence, and will bring you an advantage.
