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% |
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