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13 hours ago

5 Questions With Kemba Walker

I had a chance to talk with Bobcats rookie Kemba Walker prior to the Celtics game against Charlotte on Tuesday night.  Here is what the UConn star, who is averaging 12.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game had to say. 1. How much communication have you had with Michael Jordan this year? Walker: [...]

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1 day ago

I Am Awesome!

Yes. This is a “pat myself on the back” post because a) I’m a jackass and b) I predicted something correctly. Back on January 8th, I predicted that the next ten games will tell us everything we need to know about this Celtics’ team. If they struggled, it was time to blow it up. If [...]

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2 days ago

Pierce Wins Eastern Conference Player Of Week

One day before he’s scheduled to pass Larry Bird for second on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list, Paul Pierce won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. Pierce averaged 22 points, 6.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds in four Boston wins, playing point forward in Rajon Rondo’s absence. Pierce is only 9 points behind Bird [...]

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3 days ago

Garnett’s Wondrous 3-point Rant

Via ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg, who knows a great, playful rant when he hears one, here’s Kevin Garnett discussing his not-so-newfound aptitude for three-point shooting after the C’s took down the Grizzlies. “When I walk around the streets, y’all stop acting like y’all shocked that I can shoot 3’s. Everybody in Boston, everybody in the [...]

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3 days ago

5 Questions With O.J. Mayo

I talked with Memphis guard O.J. Mayo prior to the Celtics-Grizzlies, Super Bowl Sunday game at the Garden.  Here is what the 4th year man out of USC, who is averaging 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2 assists per game had to say. 1. You started every game your first two years in the league, [...]

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5 days ago

5 Questions With Landry Fields

I talked with New York starting guard Landry Fields prior to the Celtics-Knicks game at the TD Garden.  Here is what the 2nd year man out of Stanford, who is averaging 10 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists had to say. 1.  I’m sure you guys are frustrated with your record to this point of [...]

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Home Court Records and Champions

The Celtics, as you probably know, are 16-11 at home going into tonight’s game against the Bobcats. Sixteen teams have better home records, including the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks. This is, obviously, not a good sign. All talk about flip-switching aside, championship teams typically take care of business at home and against sub-par clubs.

If they keep their current pace up, the C’s will finish with a home record of around 25-16 or 24-17.

I was curious: Has an NBA champion ever had such a “bad” home record?

The answer (considering only post-ABA/NBA merger teams) is yes, but only one.

Can you guess which NBA champion of the last 30-plus seasons had a home record of exactly 25-16 in its championship season?

The answer is after the jump.

It was the 1995 Houston Rockets, a bizarro champion that went just 47-35 thanks to some in-season maladies and a general ho-hum start that spurred the Otis Thorpe/Clyde Drexler mid-season trade. The Rockets were the 6th seed in the Western Conference playoffs and went through the four top teams in the NBA (by regular-season record) on their way to the second of back-to-back titles. Hakeem Olajuwon also broke into David Robinson’s house in San Antonio, ate food out of the refridgerator and didn’t even leave a note.

In general, the lower-level home records for post-merger champions level off at 31-10. That was the home mark of the ’07 Spurs, ’06 Heat, ’04 Pistons, ’01 Lakers (a classic “cruise through the regular season and steamroll through the playoffs” team), ’93 Bulls and ’79 Sonics (and, going back to the last pre-merger season for Boston trivia purposes, the ’76 C’s).

Only the Rockets, ’82 Lakers (30-11) and ’78 Bullets (29-12, just 44-38 overall) fell below that 31-10 mark. Every other champion was better.

Does this mean the C’s season is doomed, or that their home record reveals they are not championship material? Of course not. They could get hot now and finish with a solid home record, and they could be a ’95 Houston/’01 Lakers-style club that truly turns it on for the playoffs. That seems to be what the team is banking on; Kendrick Perkins said over the weekend that the team’s success on the road (20-10, 2nd-best in the NBA) has taken away the urgency of the home-court race.

Mostly, this post is meant as trivia for NBA buffs.

But a 16-11 home record can’t be a good sign, right?

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