An overlooked home-court advantage
The Los Angeles Lakers have one of the largest and most passionate fanbases in the entire sport. However, for whatever reason, Lakers fans don’t seem to get the credit they deserve from the national media of being such a rabid fanbase.
Perhaps it is because the Lakers play in LA and there is a stigma around LA sports fans. Anyone actually in the fandom knows that this is a rabid fanbase that is hungry to watch playoff basketball.
That is going to make the Crypto.com Arena a very hard place for any opponent to play in. Home crowds can absolutely swing games in the playoffs and that can swing the entire series and forecast of who ends up going to the NBA Finals.
NBA fans have forgotten about just how great this fanbase is in the playoffs as they have not seen it in quite some time. The 2020 playoffs were played in a bubble and the 2021 playoffs were right off the toes of the pandemic with reduced capacity. In 2013 the Lakers got swept and Kobe Bryant didn’t play because he tore his Achilles.
It has been over a decade since a full Lakers crowd could show up and root on a team that they enjoy and actually believe can win a championship. If any other NBA fan doesn’t think that will have a huge impact then they are in for a rude awakening.
The purple and gold is 296-101 at home in the NBA Playoffs all time. That is a 74.5% winning percentage or the equivalent of winning 61 games in an 82-game season.