Home court advantage is a huge part of the NBA Playoffs. Teams work all season to win as many games as possible in order to earn the right to host any potential decisive Game 7 on their home floor.
Things will be different this year. With the NBA set to play out its postseason in a bubble in Orlando, there will be no fans to cheer on home teams. In light of that, several teams who would have benefited from this are trying to come up with alternate ways to receive some sort of advantage.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, top teams have discussed several scenarios to make up for the lack of playoff home games. Ideas include giving the higher-seeded team possession to start the second, third, and fourth quarters, designating one player to foul out after seven fouls instead of six, granting an extra coach’s challenge, and even transporting their actual hardwood floor to Orlando. Teams have also floated the idea of letting teams select their Orlando hotel accommodations in order of how they finished in the standings, with the team with the league’s best record getting the first choice.
None of these proposals have yet been raised with the league, and the discussions appear to be informal at this point.
The format for the NBA’s return has largely been agreed upon. Stuff like this is more of a perk than a necessity, though the desire for top teams to try to get some sort of advantage is understandable.
