This first appeared in the Wednesday edition of Court Sense, the Globe’s Celtics newsletter. You can sign up to receive it in your inbox on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays through the rest of the NBA season by clicking here.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Celtics have lost their last four home playoff games. At least, that’s what the record will say.
Boston was officially the home team in Tuesday’s Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat. And in all the Celtics' losses in the Toronto series, Games 3, 4, and 6, they were at “home.”
Home in the bubble means the video boards show faces of the Celtics fans, the signature music before tipoff is picked by the Celtics, and the starting lineups are recorded by PA announcer Eddie Palladino. Also, the NBA superimposes Celtics logos on the floor for television viewers. Those logos are not real.
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The bubble does offer one advantage, of course, because the Celtics don’t have to worry about travel between Games 2 and 3. But these games are essentially neutral-floor games.
The next two games will be played at a different arena than Game 1 –– AdventHealth Arena, where the Celtics were able to edge the Raptors in Game 7. Does that make a difference?
AdventHealth Arena is bigger and has more space for family and team executive seating, but for the players, it likely doesn’t. But the Celtics will have all of the “home” amenities for Game 2.
“As much as the NBA tries to make the home stuff matter, it doesn’t,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I mean it has no impact, unfortunately. I’m not sure we’ve played in a home game where the home team’s won in three weeks. It’s just guys playing in between those lines.”
So it there was any good news coming out of the Game 1 loss, it was the Celtics did not lose any home-court advantage.
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Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.