NBA Home/Road Efficiency

The NBA Play-In Tournament is less than two weeks away, and with the 1-6 seeds starting to materialize, the 7-10 group is chaos.

In a playoff series, it is imperative for teams to perform well on the road, but the length of the matchup usually brings some balance with competitive squads. The Play-In Tournament certainly won't be as kind considering its single elimination nature. Here's a look at how squads have fared both at home and on the road.

The four quadrants are important to note as they depict a team's proximity to the extremes of home and road efficiency or inefficiency.

Quadrant IV houses the league's tankers, if you will. The only squads still alive in that quadrant are the Bulls and Kings, but their play-in aspirations are ultra-thin at this point.

New Orleans and Toronto sit right on the y-axis beside the fourth quadrant, and are notably closer than the other teams in regards to making the tourney, but not plausible to beat those in front of them.

Onward to the better squads.

The Wizards' recent hot streak has catapulted them to the forefront of sub .500 teams in the east, and lies right between quadrants III and IV. Nobody in their right mind would want to face these Wizards in a single-elimination game considering their scorched-earth offensive run as of late.

The solid area of quadrant III is pretty interesting as it includes the Eastern Conference's 4-8 seeds in New York, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, and Charlotte. It's clear that the top three in the east will be Philly, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee, but don't count out all these lower seeds. The Knicks, Hawks, and Celtics have similar splits at home and on the road, while Miami has the best road record of the bunch. If the playoff bracket stayed this way, only the Knicks would have home court advantage, and this would play to their strengths. Is Miami primed for another sleeper run as a lower seed? Their road win% welcomes that, as well as their underdog mentality. Can Boston rebound from a disappointing season and escape the Hornets, Wizards, or whoever they might see in a potential play-in game? Man, the East is gonna be fun.

The lone Western Conference team in the quadrant of + home win% / - road win% is the Warriors, who might have been the most .500 team out of any .500 team in league history. They seem to go back and forth every game, either being carried by Steph to an incredible victory or being beaten down by better squads and looking like a lottery team. One thing everyone knows for sure, though: Steph can go ballistic at any moment and can will his Dubs to victory. The NBA and ESPN are definitely salivating at having Curry on the big stage in the Play-In.

Quadrant II is short and sweet, including the Grizzlies, Pacers, and Spurs; the squads fall into the 9-10 range and will face single elimination right away if the standings hold. The west matchup of Memphis vs. San Antonio would be a classic Southwest rivalry game, and a game played by the two lowest three point frequency teams. The Pacers will most likely be smoked by the Wizards in the East Play-In, right?

The Blazers bridge the gap between quadrants I and II, behind all the contenders in regards to home win%, but ahead of many in road win%, which like Miami, could play to their strengths. The two teams directly ahead of Portland are the Mavericks and Lakers, previously held that three-way tie for 5th in the West. Since then, the Mavs have moved back up to 5th, the Lakers to 6th, and Portland is down at 7th in the Play-In zone. They might not be in the cluster of the other elite teams on the graph, but the Blazers and Mavs are feisty. The Lakers could care less about the regular season, and health is of the utmost importance heading into postseason play. They're still the favorite in the West pending this health stuff.

The elite cluster in quadrant I: The Nuggets, Bucks, Clippers, Nets, Sixers, Suns, and Jazz. The Murray injury crushed Denver's title hopes, and if their game against the LeBron-less Lakers was any indication, a first round matchup against the defending champs probably won't go very well for Jokic and company. The rest of the teams in this cluster are all true contenders for the chip. The Bucks, Clippers, Nets, and Sixers are all very similar in their home/road splits, and are teams no one wants to face, especially in early rounds, but don't discount matchups and history.

Currently, the Bucks would face the Heat in round one, which would be a rematch of last year's East Semis in which Miami completely exposed Milwaukee, beating them in five games. The Bucks might be more prepared this season, however, and the addition of Jrue Holiday might push them past their previous postseason letdowns.

Here's a crazy one. Clippers/Lakers, round one. We were cheated out of this last year because of the Clippers' very well-documented meltdown, but this would be the first playoff meeting between these two teams ever, and it would be weird seeing two very serious contenders face off in the first round. The standings in the Western Conference keep fluctuating, though. We'll see if there's ever a LA/LA series.

The Nets and Sixers would play whoever comes out of the Play-In, and should be heavily favored. These two teams are looking to win the title, and one of them will probably have to face and defeat Milwaukee in the second round to do so.

The two biggest surprises in the Western Conference this year have not disappointed, and Phoenix came out on top the last time they faced Utah. The same goes for the Suns and Jazz as mentioned with the Nets and Sixers: a Play-In champion foe. The squads could face the Blazers, Warriors, Grizzlies, or Spurs in the first round, who won't go down without a fight. Bring on the playoffs in the WILD, WILD, WEST.

NBA fans should be stoked for this year's postseason. We're within two weeks now. Let the fun begin!