Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I think home court advantage puts a ton of pressure on a team to win both of the first two games. Lose one and the advantage swings to the other team”

The benefit is not where you start, – its where you finish.

Favorites are likely to be either be tied 2:2 or up 3:1 at home for game 5. Whoever wins game 5, wins the series 95% after a 2:2 tie. Trust me,

They drew nine walks and made the Pirates throw 192 pitches.

Agree with you so we are a minority of two. I’d still rather have HCA as it gives you an extra home game but I bet a lot of teams would rather start a series on the road if they could still have 4 home games. Akin to the coin toss in tennis matches where the trend is moving towards electing to receive if you win the toss.

OKC without a 100% Jalen Williams is a lot less formidable.

Yeah, their offense is basically (1) SGA (2) Jalen (3) ???

Misiorowski with 9 Ks. Also nice.

They have 5 guys who fit this description: Tatum, Brown, White, Prichard, and Hauser. The rest of the roster has very little playoff experience. Vuc has never been beyond the first round.

“…better coaching staff…”

I’m not sure about this. Mazz inherited a great roster, yet he was outcoached by Miami in year 1, and last year it could be argued that he was responsible for the 2 20-point Knick comebacks. He won a chamiopnship with a team that I think a) had the best roster in the NBA, and b) had some injury luck with opponents. He’s young and still learning, so maybe he is in fact the better coach as of now, but it’s not a given.

“…and home court advantage”

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I think home court advantage puts a ton of pressure on a team to win both of the first two games. Lose one and the advantage swings to the other team. And if you lose both, the series is pretty much over. So to me, it’s important, but the better team will usually prevail anyway.