Will the Los Angeles Clippers be the first to bring down an unsuspected NBA record? Kawhi Leonard and his family have every interest in it, for their survival in the play-offs. Led 3-2 by the Dallas Mavericks, after suffering a third home defeat in the series (100-105), the Californians travel to Texas on Friday night (3:00 am, French time) to also garner a third away victory. .
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Six consecutive away wins in six games in a play-off series? Never seen before, quite simply. The Elias Sport Bureau, an entity at the forefront when it comes to dissecting the history and statistics of the NBA, quickly noted on the night of Wednesday to Thursday that two series of play-offs had an identical start to that which opposes Clips and Mavs: the first round of conference Is 1984 between the Philadelphia Sixers and the New Jersey Nets (currently Brooklyn Nets) – at the time with the best of five matches thus gained by the Nets away -, and a Western Conference final between the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs played in 1995.
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Although first in the regular season, David Robinson’s Spurs lost in Game 6 to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets, losing the series 4-2.
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A “stronger pressure”
Difficult to explain, however, this sudden excitement at home for both teams. It is perhaps more surprising for the Clippers, who finished the regular season with the third best record in the Western Conference on their floor (26v-10d). Dallas had been as effective at home (21v-15d) as away (21v-15d).
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At the end of Game 2 lost by his home team (121-127), Los Angeles coach Tyronn Lue felt that the pressure was ” stronger On the team playing at home, in particular because it must return its shots in front of its public. The rest of the debates proved him right, but the theory remains dangerous: Friday night, it will be the first potential elimination match for his franchise. It remains to be seen whether the Mavericks, unrecognizable in their American Airlines Center for their first two games, will also be permissive when it comes to winning the second round for the first time since their NBA title in 2011.
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