John Walters

If, like me, you have been avidly following the NBA playoffs this spring, then you too are anxiously awaiting Friday's theatrical release of The Strangers. From what the trailer portends, this is a film about a small group of persons who enter someone else's home and do some serious damage.

Which is to say that "The Strangers" is unlike nearly every playoff game you've seen this postseason.

If "The Strangers" were a 2008 NBA playoff game, Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler would be up 25 by Act III, long after that dude with the pillowcase over his head had been ejected for flagrant axing. To paraphrase the film's tagline: "We tell ourselves there's nothing to fear. And as long as Bennett Salvatore is the lead ref, we're right."

Home teams win more often — a lot more often — in the NBA playoffs (as opposed to the NCAA playoffs, where only North Carolina plays at home). That is not news. But how come so many visiting teams are behaving like road kill this spring? You cannot pin all the blame on the bar staff at Boston's Liberty Hotel, after all. Can you?

In the 60 games that the four remaining playoff teams (Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Antonio) have been involved thus far, the home team has won more than 78 percent of the time.

That the Spurs are unbeaten (7-0) at the MT&T (Manu, Tim and Tony) Center in the playoffs and that the Lakers are likewise at Staples (7-0 as well) is not surprising. That, after all, is why they are still playing. What is absurd is how quickly and dramatically visiting teams, the Spurs and Lakers included, capitulate on the road.

Detroit lost by 25 at Philadelphia, Boston by 24 at Cleveland, San Antonio by 22 at New Orleans and Los Angeles by 19 at San Antonio. Notice, three of the four teams that put a whuppin' (a 20-point plus whuppin', we might add) on our conference finalists are already playing footsie with some sand in Maui.

Mel Gibson, who always fought hard on other people's turf (Gallipoli, Road Warrior, Braveheart), is a far cry from Daniel Gibson. It was the latter Gibson's Cavs who lost by 36 at Washington, a team they had beaten by 30 two nights earlier in Cleveland. Atlanta lost by 34 at Boston — in Game 7, no less.

Perhaps it is time, in regard to the Phoenix Suns, that we take a breather from tossing dirt on their grave to credit them for being the one consistently competitive road outfit of this postseason. The Suns lost three games at San Antonio by a total of 13 points; the 15 other playoff teams have all lost one game by a greater margin than that.

You can somewhat excuse a sub-.500 No. 8 seed (Atlanta finished 37-45) for being blown out by a No. 1 seed such as Boston, but how do you explain the 66-16 Celtics being 1-7 on the road? Or losing by 24 to the Cavs?

Road blowouts have been, with the exception of Phoenix, pandemic this postseason. The average margin of defeat by the road team in games the four remaining teams have played is more than 12.5 points. In fact, about 59 percent of the games involving these four have been decided by 10 or more points. Look closely and you can see Kyra Sedgwick yawning during those wraith-like promos late in the TNT broadcasts.

That is because, you may say, that Boston, Detroit, L.A. and San Antonio are so much better than everyone else. But that would be wrong. The Celtics are 1-7 on the road; the Pistons are a respectable 4-3; the Lakers 3-3; and the defending NBA champions 2-6. In fact, all four of them have lost at least one playoff game by 19 points during these playoffs. Detroit and San Antonio have each lost by 20-plus points twice.

All of which proves that Charles Barkley is a moron. If Sir Charles had just stuck to betting on home teams minus the points this postseason, the Wynn Casino would owe him $400,000. At least.

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