NBA Playoffs 2011 See Heat With Home Court Advantage, But Don't Expect it to Help Much
The Miami Heat have been one of the most exciting teams in the NBA this season. With their cast of superstars, their penchant for streaky play (Hey! They lost five straight! Oh, wait; they just won 10 straight!) and finding themselves as the NBA's biggest villains in recent memory, it's no surprise that the Heat are one of the most compelling teams in recent memory.
They enter the playoffs with home court advantage in the first round, something most teams would see as a decided advantage. But, for the Heat, it might not be quite as great as you'd think.
According to the New York Times' Don Van Natta, the Heat might have the worst fan base in the NBA right now.
But in Miami, where people love parties but rarely arrive to any of them on time, it has not quite worked out that way: Ticket holders straggle in long after the opening tip and flee en masse midway through the fourth quarter to beat the traffic. Clusters of red-and-orange seats remain blindingly vacant, making American Airlines Arena appear half-empty on television.
Meanwhile, the arena?s plush lounges are jammed with fans sipping mojitos, snacking on tapas and taking in the sumptuous Miami skyline. Texting is rarely interrupted for cheering. And when P. Diddy claims his courtside seat ? midway through the second quarter, usually ? his presence creates more electricity among the nearby high-paying fans than any alley-oop dunk by the Three Kings, as the Miami Herald has christened James, Wade and Bosh.
This makes absolutely no sense to me, and it never has. When you have a terrible basketball team, like, say, the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's understandable to show up late, or not show up or care. But when you have one of the NBA's best teams, one of it's most interesting, fascinating clubs, how can you possibly get to a game late, and text your way through it?!
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The lack of fan support isn't as tangible, in the standings; the Heat lost 11 games at home this year, more than the Bulls, Celtics, Spurs and Nuggets, and the same number as the Blazers, Lakers, Thunder, and Grizzlies. But, that doesn't make it any less depressing.
Fans cheering on a team (even if they only cheer when a Jumbotron tells them to) are a huge part of sports. People in the stands are supposed to care about the action on the court; if they don't, why bother going to the game in the first place? Why drop hundreds of dollars on tickets if you're just going to be seen? Save your money and walk around in public; you'll get the exact same results.
The lack of fan support could manifest itself in the postseason, too; while the Heat are unlikely not to sell out, there's no reason for fans to get there any earlier than they do now. They'll keep updating Twitter feeds, being confused by the action on the court, not knowing when to cheer, and generally behaving like terrible fans.
For the sake of basketball, and sports in general, here's hoping the Heat crash out of the playoffs early, because their fans clearly don't care enough to deserve a title.
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