Heat Subs Beat Much Improved Wizards to Clinch Home Court

Heat Subs Beat Much Improved Wizards to Clinch Home Court

Going into Washington to face John Wall is no longer an easy win, particularly when you had to beat Milwaukee the night before, your four top players are out, and you happen to be a 37-year-old who had to sit out yourself when an ankle injury just a few days ago. But Ray Allen did all that, scoring 23 points to clinch the home court advantage for the Miami Heat throughout the playoffs despite Wall’s 17 points, 11 assists and game-high nine rebounds for a Wizard’s team that is 25-22 since starting the season in last place.

Ray Allen is letting the young guys rest and heal for the playoffs. Allen scored 11 points in 25 minutes against Milwaukee Tuesday (pictured), then bounced back in less than 24 hours to win at Washington, where the Wizards now have a 55% winning percentage, 103-98 over Washington Wednesday while Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and even Udonis Haslem sat out. The win clinched home court advantage, where the Heat has won 89% of their games, throughout the playoffs (see table of all teams below).

The San Antonio Spurs are the only team that can match the 62 wins if they win out and the Heat loses their last four, but the Heat has the tie-breaker due to the Heat back-ups recently beating the Spurs head-to-head to take the season series. They are tied with the Denver Nuggets for home court advantage, but the Spurs have five games left so can get to 62 wins, while the Nuggets have only four left so can only get to 61 wins – important because the Nuggets are the only team with a better home winning record than the Heat at 92 percent.

The win was particularly impressive against the Wizards, who have been led by John Wall, who recently scored 47 points in a game to bring back memories of the NBA title 25 years ago.

For the full AP story on Wednesday’s home clinching win by the Heat, click here

Team Wins now Best case Conf. Home W%
Miami 62 66 East 89%
San Antonio 57 62 West 87%
Oklahoma City 57 61 West 85%
Denver 53 58 West 92%
Memphis 53 57 West 79%
New York 51 56 East 74%
L.A. Clippers 51 56 West 77%
Indiana 49 53 East 77%
Brooklyn 45 50 East 62%
Golden State 45 49 West 69%
Houston 44 48 West 72%
Atlanta 43 46 East 62%
Chicago 42 47 East 56%
L.A. Lakers 41 45 West 68%
Utah 41 44 West 73%
Boston 40 45 East 69%
Dallas 38 43 West 59%
Milwaukee 37 41 East 53%
Portland 33 38 West 58%
Philadelphia 31 35 East 55%
Toronto 30 34 East 47%
Washington 29 32 East 55%
Minnesota 29 34 West 49%
Detroit 27 30 East 41%
Sacramento 27 32 West 49%
New Orleans 27 31 West 41%
Cleveland 24 28 East 36%
Phoenix 23 27 West 40%
Orlando 20 23 East 31%
Charlotte 18 22 East 32%

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.