Home is where the heart is

by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 10:45 AM MST Comment 11 comments

That’s an idiom that we’ve all heard and repeated at some stage or another. It’s also a pretty concise understanding of this Jazz team. Usually, the traditional characteristics of the Utah Jazz were: Jerry Sloan getting T’d up; pick and rolls; physical defense; and being nearly impossible to defeat at home. Those characteristics may no longer be valid.

I’m unable to google a list of coaching technical fouls for this season – but if Sloan was getting them I’m sure the media would be able to tell me about it. Utah does run pick and rolls still, it’s a major component of their offense. The physicality of the defense is a far cry from the 80’s and 90’s when you could get away with a lot more (like Adam Keefe tackling cutters even before they got the ball). The home invulnerability also seems to be receding quite a bit this season as well.

That’s just an idea though, as this season the Jazz have lost 8 games at home already (some games given up to less than amazing talent, at that). Last season the Jazz only lost 8 games at home. Furthermore, two seasons ago the Jazz only lost 4 games at home. I had to look this up to see if Utah was getting worse at home – and curiously getting better on the road. Click on to read the results and my analysis.

Since the Delta Center (now Energy Solutions Arena) was erected, it has stood as an edifice of distinct provincialism. Visiting opponents have grown accustomed to the bitter sting of defeat there. In it’s first season (1991-1992) the Jazz held a ridiculous 37-4 record in the Delta Center. That’s a winning percentage of 90.2%. The Jazz are an all-time 565-187 in this building. That’s a winning percentage of better than 75%. This includes those Carlos Arroyo / Mikki Moore years. It does not need to be said that the Jazz lose at home even more infrequently during the playoffs.

During that same period of time, the Jazz have limped to a 365-383 record on the road (48.8%). The standard of good teams is the ability to win on the road. This is true of the Jazz as well, as they won 27 road games (65.9 winning %) in 1994-1995 – essentially the year they became true contenders. This started a trend of 7 years in a row with a road winning percentage of at least 51.2%. During this span the Jazz went to the Western Conference Finals 5 times. Correlation does not effectively lead to causation; but it remains to be seen that winning on the road is a hallmark of a good team.

This season Utah is 14-12 on the road, this is a winning percentage of 53.8%. This is the highest winning percentage on the road that the Jazz have had since 2000-2001. That was back when Stockton and Malone were still running a veteran heavy squad that had the will to win on the road. Obviously this is a good sign, as the Jazz have climbed up from 19.5% to 53.8% over the Deron Williams era. (counting the year before he came for dramatic effect here)

Utah is making a name for itself by shedding the old notion of not being able to win outside of the friendly confines of their home court. This has come with increased talent, maturity and focus. Additionally with all the jersey changing this year, the Jazz sometimes wear road jerseys at home, and vice versa (due to heritage nights) – maybe this has something to do with it? Home is where the heart is, and the Jazz have been playing with more heart on the road than in previous seasons. You only need to go ask the Blazers about that. More seriously, though, is the fact that the Jazz *are* posting the second lowest home winning percentage in the Deron Williams era. Of course, that’s still only a 73.3% mark.

Utah, since they started playing in their relatively new 19k capacity arena, has held a significantly greater winning percentage at home than on the road: 75.1% to 48.8%. That’s a difference of 26.3% in favor of winning at home over the 19 years the Delta Center has stood. Even in those Stockton and Malone / NBA Finals seasons the Jazz managed to have a ridiculously high winning percentage differential – while still winning 26 games on the road each season. This season the Jazz winning percentage difference is only 19.5% in favor of winning at home.

Before the psychology of this young team might have been "we don’t need to give it all on the road, because we’ll make it up at home". This season the psychology may be "we need to really give it our all, and make sure we win on the road", at the expense of winning at home. Teams can’t take winning at home for granted. Lest of all this Jazz team that may actually have a chance of HOSTING a 1^st round series for the first time since Ostertag was starting.

There are only 26 games left this season, and I’m encouraged by this new found ability to win on the road. But in order to remain among the best in the West, the Jazz need to bring the same focus, effort and heart at home as well as on the road.

AllThatJazzBasketball

@AllThatAmar on Twitter

allthatjazzbasketball@hotmail.com

Notes:

All data collected from ESPN.com’s NBA archives and Basketball-Reference.com

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Kinda quiet in here . . .

(crickets)

(tumble weed goes by)

Follow me on Twitter: AllThatAmar
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Really, I'm totally not lonely or anything . . .

by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 12:20 PM MST reply actions

It's always quiet in the day time

The Downbeat gets most of its comments at night.

SLCDunk.com, The Utah Jazz on SBNation

by Basketball John on Feb 24, 2010 2:33 PM MST up reply actions

I may not properly understand what hosting a first round series is

but didn’t we do that the year before last, when the Lakers beat us in the second round.

by Bobby Joness on Feb 24, 2010 12:37 PM MST reply actions

Hosting . . .

means we have home games for game 1, 2, 5 and 7. and you’re right, we did that vs. the Rockets two seasons ago!

Ooops!

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by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 12:44 PM MST up reply actions

Nope. I was corrected the first time . . .

Jazz did not have home court vs. Rockets (jazz had 4th seed because of winning division — but houston had better record)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2008_games.html

Game 1 — Sat, Apr 19, 2008 @ Houston Rockets (WIN)
Game 2 — Mon, Apr 21, 2008 @ Houston Rockets (WIN)
Game 3 - Thu, Apr 24, 2008 vs Houston Rockets (Loss)
Game 4 - Sat, Apr 26, 2008 vs Houston Rockets (WIN)
Game 5 — Tue, Apr 29, 2008 @ Houston Rockets (Loss)
Game 6 — Fri, May 2, 2008 vs Houston Rockets (WIN)

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by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 12:49 PM MST up reply actions

I have no clue why that part is striked out . . .

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by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 12:49 PM MST up reply actions

Cause it was a home loss

It should always be struck out for being a home loss. Stupid rockets. Jk :)

For the Love of the Game

by ForTheLove on Feb 24, 2010 1:24 PM MST up reply actions

Thanks for the explination

by Bobby Joness on Feb 24, 2010 1:34 PM MST up reply actions

Bench

It’s always been explained to me that your home record is better than your road record because your bench plays better at home. So what happens when you kill your bench by trading players away for nothing? Well, you start losing home games is what happens. This is especially true when you have injuries to your starters and you hae to go deeper into your bench. Final thought: Fes plays way better with the starting line-up than with the bench. Agree? I think this is because the starters know how to space the floor and distribute the ball. Also the offensive talents of players like Boozer draw double teams which force the defense to collapse and give Fes open dunks. When he plays with the bench he has to create which is not his strong suit. I’s like to see a line-up of DWill, OMSW, AK47, Booz and Fes.

by tyrantking on Feb 24, 2010 1:43 PM MST reply actions

it's the whole Bynum thing

Bynum wouldn’t get so many open dunks if he was playing on the second unit. other teams are so focused on kobe and gasol that Bynum happens to be open a lot. Same deal with Fes when he’s on the floor with Deron, Booz and some outside shooters.

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by AllThatJazzBasketball on Feb 24, 2010 1:51 PM MST up reply actions

Defense

I really look to Fes for his defense. With that in mind, Fes may currently be more effective off the bench because he will be with Sap rather than Boozer. I do think however that our starting lineup could really use him, IF(!!!) our guards pick up their shooting and spread the floor for Boozer.

by Bobby Joness on Feb 24, 2010 2:43 PM MST up reply actions