After last night's Fakers/ Jazz and Celtics/ Cavs games, the home teams have won 19 of 20 second-round games.  The lone exception to the trend: a narrow, 2-point win by the Pistons over a weak Magic team.  Sorry, but this is getting beyond predictable.

Last night, with two of my least-favorite teams playing at home, it got to the point where I would just fast-forward my DVR towards the inevitable conclusions.  Yes, the Jazz made their game a little interesting, but somehow I never believed they could win.

Remember the past two seasons, with all the overtime games and road wins?  It seemed the only time the home court advantage amounted to much was in game 7's.  Now it's suddenly all-important.

So is this just an incredible coincidence, or has something changed?  I'd like to say it's a grand conspiracy by the league, but for one thing, I haven't noticed much of a pattern of officiating bias (except maybe the near-impossibilty of road teams getting a charge call).  For another, where's the advantage to the league?  It could be to increase teams' incentive during the regular season, but that seems a stretch. 

One thing for sure: the overwhelming home court advantage is taking a lot of excitement out of watching these playoffs for me.